Allocating resources of uplink grants to a logical channel

ABSTRACT

A wireless device receives configuration parameters. The configuration parameters indicate: a mapping restriction indicating that a logical channel is mapped to an unlicensed resource type and a licensed resource type; and a prioritized bit rate of the logical channel. The wireless device receives: first uplink grants of the unlicensed resource type; and second uplink grants of the licensed resource type. First unlicensed resources within the first uplink grants are allocated to the logical channel. Second licensed resources within the second uplink grants are allocated to the logical channel based on a difference between the allocated first unlicensed resources and the prioritized bit rate of the logical channel. The wireless device transmits transport blocks corresponding to the first uplink grants and the second uplink grants.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/583,027, filed May 1, 2017, which claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Application No. 62/329,820, filed Apr. 29, 2016, which ishereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

Examples of several of the various embodiments of the present disclosureare described herein with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram depicting example sets of OFDM subcarriers as per anaspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a diagram depicting an example transmission time and receptiontime for two carriers in a carrier group as per an aspect of anembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 is an example diagram depicting OFDM radio resources as per anaspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is an example block diagram of a base station and a wirelessdevice as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5A, FIG. 5B, FIG. 5C and FIG. 5D are example diagrams for uplinkand downlink signal transmission as per an aspect of an embodiment ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 6 is an example diagram for a protocol structure with CA and DC asper an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 is an example diagram for a protocol structure with CA and DC asper an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 8 shows example TAG configurations as per an aspect of anembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 9 is an example message flow in a random access process in asecondary TAG as per an aspect of an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 10 is an example diagram depicting a downlink burst as per anaspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 11 is an example logical channel configuration information elementas per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 12 is an illustration of an example of logical channelprioritization as per an aspect of an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 13 is an illustration of an example of logical channelprioritization as per an aspect of an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 14 is an illustration of an example of logical channelprioritization as per an aspect of an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 15 is an illustration of an example of logical channelprioritization as per an aspect of an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 16 is an illustration of an example of logical channelprioritization as per an aspect of an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 17 is an illustration of an example of logical channelprioritization as per an aspect of an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 18 is an illustration of an example of logical channelprioritization as per an aspect of an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 19 is an example flow diagram as per an aspect of an embodiment ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 20 is an example flow diagram as per an aspect of an embodiment ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 21 is an example flow diagram as per an aspect of an embodiment ofthe present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Example embodiments of the present disclosure enable operation ofcarrier aggregation. Embodiments of the technology disclosed herein maybe employed in the technical field of multicarrier communicationsystems.

The following Acronyms are used throughout the present disclosure:

ASIC application-specific integrated circuit BPSK binary phase shiftkeying CA carrier aggregation CSI channel state information CDMA codedivision multiple access CSS common search space CPLD complexprogrammable logic devices CC component carrier DL downlink DCI downlinkcontrol information DC dual connectivity EPC evolved packet core E-UTRANevolved-universal terrestrial radio access network FPGA fieldprogrammable gate arrays FDD frequency division multiplexing HDLhardware description languages HARQ hybrid automatic repeat request IEinformation element LAA licensed assisted access LTE long term evolutionMCG master cell group MeNB master evolved node B MIB master informationblock MAC media access control MAC media access control MME mobilitymanagement entity NAS non-access stratum OFDM orthogonal frequencydivision multiplexing PDCP packet data convergence protocol PDU packetdata unit PHY physical PDCCH physical downlink control channel PHICHphysical HARQ indicator channel PUCCH physical uplink control channelPUSCH physical uplink shared channel PCell primary cell PCell primarycell PCC primary component carrier PSCell primary secondary cell pTAGprimary timing advance group QAM quadrature amplitude modulation QPSKquadrature phase shift keying RBG Resource Block Groups RLC radio linkcontrol RRC radio resource control RA random access RB resource blocksSCC secondary component carrier SCell secondary cell Scell secondarycells SCG secondary cell group SeNB secondary evolved node B sTAGssecondary timing advance group SDU service data unit S-GW servinggateway SRB signaling radio bearer SC-OFDM single carrier-OFDM SFNsystem frame number SIB information block TAI tracking area identifierTAT time alignment timer TDD time division duplexing TDMA time divisionmultiple access TA timing advance TAG timing advance group TB transportblock UL uplink UE user equipment VHDL VHSIC hardware descriptionlanguage

Example embodiments of the disclosure may be implemented using variousphysical layer modulation and transmission mechanisms. Exampletransmission mechanisms may include, but are not limited to: CDMA, OFDM,TDMA, Wavelet technologies, and/or the like. Hybrid transmissionmechanisms such as TDMA/CDMA, and OFDM/CDMA may also be employed.Various modulation schemes may be applied for signal transmission in thephysical layer. Examples of modulation schemes include, but are notlimited to: phase, amplitude, code, a combination of these, and/or thelike. An example radio transmission method may implement QAM using BPSK,QPSK, 16-QAM, 64-QAM, 256-QAM, and/or the like. Physical radiotransmission may be enhanced by dynamically or semi-dynamically changingthe modulation and coding scheme depending on transmission requirementsand radio conditions.

FIG. 1 is a diagram depicting example sets of OFDM subcarriers as per anaspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure. As illustrated inthis example, arrow(s) in the diagram may depict a subcarrier in amulticarrier OFDM system. The OFDM system may use technology such asOFDM technology, DFTS-OFDM, SC-OFDM technology, or the like. Forexample, arrow 101 shows a subcarrier transmitting information symbols.FIG. 1 is for illustration purposes, and a typical multicarrier OFDMsystem may include more subcarriers in a carrier. For example, thenumber of subcarriers in a carrier may be in the range of 10 to 10,000subcarriers. FIG. 1 shows two guard bands 106 and 107 in a transmissionband. As illustrated in FIG. 1, guard band 106 is between subcarriers103 and subcarriers 104. The example set of subcarriers A 102 includessubcarriers 103 and subcarriers 104. FIG. 1 also illustrates an exampleset of subcarriers B 105. As illustrated, there is no guard band betweenany two subcarriers in the example set of subcarriers B 105. Carriers ina multicarrier OFDM communication system may be contiguous carriers,non-contiguous carriers, or a combination of both contiguous andnon-contiguous carriers.

FIG. 2 is a diagram depicting an example transmission time and receptiontime for two carriers as per an aspect of an embodiment of the presentinvention. A multicarrier OFDM communication system may include one ormore carriers, for example, ranging from 1 to 10 carriers. Carrier A 204and carrier B 205 may have the same or different timing structures.Although FIG. 2 shows two synchronized carriers, carrier A 204 andcarrier B 205 may or may not be synchronized with each other. Differentradio frame structures may be supported for FDD and TDD duplexmechanisms. FIG. 2 shows an example FDD frame timing. Downlink anduplink transmissions may be organized into radio frames 201. In thisexample, radio frame duration is 10 msec. Other frame durations, forexample, in the range of 1 to 100 msec may also be supported. In thisexample, each 10 ms radio frame 201 may be divided into ten equallysized subframes 202. Other subframe durations such as including 0.5msec, 1 msec, 2 msec, and 5 msec may also be supported. Subframe(s) mayconsist of two or more slots (e.g. slots 206 and 207). For the exampleof FDD, 10 subframes may be available for downlink transmission and 10subframes may be available for uplink transmissions in each 10 msinterval. Uplink and downlink transmissions may be separated in thefrequency domain. A slot may be 7 or 14 OFDM symbols for the samesubcarrier spacing of up to 60 kHz with normal CP. A slot may be 14 OFDMsymbols for the same subcarrier spacing higher than 60 kHz with normalCP. A slot may contain all downlink, all uplink, or a downlink part andan uplink part and/or alike. Slot aggregation may be supported, e.g.,data transmission may be scheduled to span one or multiple slots. In anexample, a mini-slot may start at an OFDM symbol in a subframe. Amini-slot may have a duration of one or more OFDM symbols. Slot(s) mayinclude a plurality of OFDM symbols 203. The number of OFDM symbols 203in a slot 206 may depend on the cyclic prefix length and subcarrierspacing.

FIG. 3 is a diagram depicting OFDM radio resources as per an aspect ofan embodiment of the present invention. The resource grid structure intime 304 and frequency 305 is illustrated in FIG. 3. The quantity ofdownlink subcarriers or RBs may depend, at least in part, on thedownlink transmission bandwidth 306 configured in the cell. The smallestradio resource unit may be called a resource element (e.g. 301).Resource elements may be grouped into resource blocks (e.g. 302).Resource blocks may be grouped into larger radio resources calledResource Block Groups (RBG) (e.g. 303). The transmitted signal in slot206 may be described by one or several resource grids of a plurality ofsubcarriers and a plurality of OFDM symbols. Resource blocks may be usedto describe the mapping of certain physical channels to resourceelements. Other pre-defined groupings of physical resource elements maybe implemented in the system depending on the radio technology. Forexample, 24 subcarriers may be grouped as a radio block for a durationof 5 msec. In an illustrative example, a resource block may correspondto one slot in the time domain and 180 kHz in the frequency domain (for15 KHz subcarrier bandwidth and 12 subcarriers).

In an example embodiment, multiple numerologies may be supported. In anexample, a numerology may be derived by scaling a basic subcarrierspacing by an integer N. In an example, scalable numerology may allow atleast from 15 kHz to 480 kHz subcarrier spacing. The numerology with 15kHz and scaled numerology with different subcarrier spacing with thesame CP overhead may align at a symbol boundary every 1 ms in a carrier.

FIG. 5A, FIG. 5B, FIG. 5C and FIG. 5D are example diagrams for uplinkand downlink signal transmission as per an aspect of an embodiment ofthe present disclosure. FIG. 5A shows an example uplink physicalchannel. The baseband signal representing the physical uplink sharedchannel may perform the following processes. These functions areillustrated as examples and it is anticipated that other mechanisms maybe implemented in various embodiments. The functions may comprisescrambling, modulation of scrambled bits to generate complex-valuedsymbols, mapping of the complex-valued modulation symbols onto one orseveral transmission layers, transform precoding to generatecomplex-valued symbols, precoding of the complex-valued symbols, mappingof precoded complex-valued symbols to resource elements, generation ofcomplex-valued time-domain DFTS-OFDM/SC-FDMA signal for each antennaport, and/or the like.

Example modulation and up-conversion to the carrier frequency of thecomplex-valued DFTS-OFDM/SC-FDMA baseband signal for each antenna portand/or the complex-valued PRACH baseband signal is shown in FIG. 5B.Filtering may be employed prior to transmission.

An example structure for Downlink Transmissions is shown in FIG. 5C. Thebaseband signal representing a downlink physical channel may perform thefollowing processes. These functions are illustrated as examples and itis anticipated that other mechanisms may be implemented in variousembodiments. The functions include scrambling of coded bits in each ofthe codewords to be transmitted on a physical channel; modulation ofscrambled bits to generate complex-valued modulation symbols; mapping ofthe complex-valued modulation symbols onto one or several transmissionlayers; precoding of the complex-valued modulation symbols on each layerfor transmission on the antenna ports; mapping of complex-valuedmodulation symbols for each antenna port to resource elements;generation of complex-valued time-domain OFDM signal for each antennaport, and/or the like.

Example modulation and up-conversion to the carrier frequency of thecomplex-valued OFDM baseband signal for each antenna port is shown inFIG. 5D. Filtering may be employed prior to transmission.

FIG. 4 is an example block diagram of a base station 401 and a wirelessdevice 406, as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.A communication network 400 may include at least one base station 401and at least one wireless device 406. The base station 401 may includeat least one communication interface 402, at least one processor 403,and at least one set of program code instructions 405 stored innon-transitory memory 404 and executable by the at least one processor403. The wireless device 406 may include at least one communicationinterface 407, at least one processor 408, and at least one set ofprogram code instructions 410 stored in non-transitory memory 409 andexecutable by the at least one processor 408. Communication interface402 in base station 401 may be configured to engage in communicationwith communication interface 407 in wireless device 406 via acommunication path that includes at least one wireless link 411.Wireless link 411 may be a bi-directional link. Communication interface407 in wireless device 406 may also be configured to engage in acommunication with communication interface 402 in base station 401. Basestation 401 and wireless device 406 may be configured to send andreceive data over wireless link 411 using multiple frequency carriers.According to aspects of an embodiments, transceiver(s) may be employed.A transceiver is a device that includes both a transmitter and receiver.Transceivers may be employed in devices such as wireless devices, basestations, relay nodes, and/or the like. Example embodiments for radiotechnology implemented in communication interface 402, 407 and wirelesslink 411 are illustrated are FIG. 1, FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 5, andassociated text.

An interface may be a hardware interface, a firmware interface, asoftware interface, and/or a combination thereof. The hardware interfacemay include connectors, wires, electronic devices such as drivers,amplifiers, and/or the like. A software interface may include codestored in a memory device to implement protocol(s), protocol layers,communication drivers, device drivers, combinations thereof, and/or thelike. A firmware interface may include a combination of embeddedhardware and code stored in and/or in communication with a memory deviceto implement connections, electronic device operations, protocol(s),protocol layers, communication drivers, device drivers, hardwareoperations, combinations thereof, and/or the like.

The term configured may relate to the capacity of a device whether thedevice is in an operational or non-operational state. Configured mayalso refer to specific settings in a device that effect the operationalcharacteristics of the device whether the device is in an operational ornon-operational state. In other words, the hardware, software, firmware,registers, memory values, and/or the like may be “configured” within adevice, whether the device is in an operational or nonoperational state,to provide the device with specific characteristics. Terms such as “acontrol message to cause in a device” may mean that a control messagehas parameters that may be used to configure specific characteristics inthe device, whether the device is in an operational or non-operationalstate.

According to various aspects of an embodiment, a network may include amultitude of base stations, providing a user plane PDCP/RLC/MAC/PHY andcontrol plane (RRC) protocol terminations towards the wireless device.The base station(s) may be interconnected with other base station(s)(for example, interconnected employing an X2 interface or an Xninterface). Base stations may also be connected employing, for example,an S1 interface to an EPC. For example, base stations may beinterconnected to the MME employing the S1-MME interface and to the S-G)employing the S1-U interface. The S1 interface may support amany-to-many relation between MMEs/Serving Gateways and base stations. Abase station may include many sectors for example: 1, 2, 3, 4, or 6sectors. A base station may include many cells, for example, rangingfrom 1 to 50 cells or more. A cell may be categorized, for example, as aprimary cell or secondary cell. At RRC connectionestablishment/re-establishment/handover, one serving cell may providethe NAS (non-access stratum) mobility information (e.g. TAI), and at RRCconnection re-establishment/handover, one serving cell may provide thesecurity input. This cell may be referred to as the Primary Cell(PCell). In the downlink, the carrier corresponding to the PCell may bethe Downlink Primary Component Carrier (DL PCC), while in the uplink,the carrier corresponding to the PCell may be the Uplink PrimaryComponent Carrier (UL PCC). Depending on wireless device capabilities,Secondary Cells (SCells) may be configured to form together with thePCell a set of serving cells. In the downlink, the carrier correspondingto an SCell may be a Downlink Secondary Component Carrier (DL SCC),while in the uplink, it may be an Uplink Secondary Component Carrier (ULSCC). An SCell may or may not have an uplink carrier.

A cell, comprising a downlink carrier and optionally an uplink carrier,may be assigned a physical cell ID and a cell index. A carrier (downlinkor uplink) may belong to only one cell. The cell ID or Cell index mayalso identify the downlink carrier or uplink carrier of the cell(depending on the context it is used). In the specification, cell ID maybe equally referred to a carrier ID, and cell index may be referred tocarrier index. In implementation, the physical cell ID or cell index maybe assigned to a cell. A cell ID may be determined using asynchronization signal transmitted on a downlink carrier. A cell indexmay be determined using RRC messages. For example, when thespecification refers to a first physical cell ID for a first downlinkcarrier, the specification may mean the first physical cell ID is for acell comprising the first downlink carrier. The same concept may apply,for example, to carrier activation. When the specification indicatesthat a first carrier is activated, the specification may also mean thatthe cell comprising the first carrier is activated.

Embodiments may be configured to operate as needed. The disclosedmechanism may be performed when certain criteria are met, for example,in a wireless device, a base station, a radio environment, a network, acombination of the above, and/or the like. Example criteria may bebased, at least in part, on for example, traffic load, initial systemset up, packet sizes, traffic characteristics, a combination of theabove, and/or the like. When the one or more criteria are met, variousexample embodiments may be applied. Therefore, it may be possible toimplement example embodiments that selectively implement disclosedprotocols.

A base station may communicate with a mix of wireless devices. Wirelessdevices may support multiple technologies, and/or multiple releases ofthe same technology. Wireless devices may have some specificcapability(ies) depending on its wireless device category and/orcapability(ies). A base station may comprise multiple sectors. When thisdisclosure refers to a base station communicating with a plurality ofwireless devices, this disclosure may refer to a subset of the totalwireless devices in a coverage area. This disclosure may refer to, forexample, a plurality of wireless devices of a given LTE or 5G releasewith a given capability and in a given sector of the base station. Theplurality of wireless devices in this disclosure may refer to a selectedplurality of wireless devices, and/or a subset of total wireless devicesin a coverage area which perform according to disclosed methods, and/orthe like. There may be a plurality of wireless devices in a coveragearea that may not comply with the disclosed methods, for example,because those wireless devices perform based on older releases of LTE or5G technology.

FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 are example diagrams for protocol structure with CAand DC as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.E-UTRAN may support Dual Connectivity (DC) operation whereby a multipleRX/TX UE in RRC_CONNECTED may be configured to utilize radio resourcesprovided by two schedulers located in two eNBs connected via a non-idealbackhaul over the X2 interface. eNBs involved in DC for a certain UE mayassume two different roles: an eNB may either act as an MeNB or as anSeNB. In DC a UE may be connected to one MeNB and one SeNB. Mechanismsimplemented in DC may be extended to cover more than two eNBs. FIG. 7illustrates one example structure for the UE side MAC entities when aMaster Cell Group (MCG) and a Secondary Cell Group (SCG) are configured,and it may not restrict implementation. Media Broadcast MulticastService (MBMS) reception is not shown in this figure for simplicity.

In DC, the radio protocol architecture that a particular bearer uses maydepend on how the bearer is setup. Three alternatives may exist, an MCGbearer, an SCG bearer and a split bearer as shown in FIG. 6. RRC may belocated in MeNB and SRBs may be configured as a MCG bearer type and mayuse the radio resources of the MeNB. DC may also be described as havingat least one bearer configured to use radio resources provided by theSeNB. DC may or may not be configured/implemented in example embodimentsof the disclosure.

In the case of DC, the UE may be configured with two MAC entities: oneMAC entity for MeNB, and one MAC entity for SeNB. In DC, the configuredset of serving cells for a UE may comprise two subsets: the Master CellGroup (MCG) containing the serving cells of the MeNB, and the SecondaryCell Group (SCG) containing the serving cells of the SeNB. For a SCG,one or more of the following may be applied. At least one cell in theSCG may have a configured UL CC and one of them, named PSCell (or PCellof SCG, or sometimes called PCell), may be configured with PUCCHresources. When the SCG is configured, there may be at least one SCGbearer or one Split bearer. Upon detection of a physical layer problemor a random access problem on a PSCell, or the maximum number of RLCretransmissions has been reached associated with the SCG, or upondetection of an access problem on a PSCell during a SCG addition or aSCG change: a RRC connection re-establishment procedure may not betriggered, UL transmissions towards cells of the SCG may be stopped, anda MeNB may be informed by the UE of a SCG failure type. For splitbearer, the DL data transfer over the MeNB may be maintained. The RLC AMbearer may be configured for the split bearer. Like a PCell, a PSCellmay not be de-activated. A PSCell may be changed with a SCG change (forexample, with a security key change and a RACH procedure), and/orneither a direct bearer type change between a Split bearer and a SCGbearer nor simultaneous configuration of a SCG and a Split bearer may besupported.

With respect to the interaction between a MeNB and a SeNB, one or moreof the following principles may be applied. The MeNB may maintain theRRM measurement configuration of the UE and may, (for example, based onreceived measurement reports or traffic conditions or bearer types),decide to ask a SeNB to provide additional resources (serving cells) fora UE. Upon receiving a request from the MeNB, a SeNB may create acontainer that may result in the configuration of additional servingcells for the UE (or decide that it has no resource available to do so).For UE capability coordination, the MeNB may provide (part of) the ASconfiguration and the UE capabilities to the SeNB. The MeNB and the SeNBmay exchange information about a UE configuration by employing RRCcontainers (inter-node messages) carried in X2 messages. The SeNB mayinitiate a reconfiguration of its existing serving cells (for example, aPUCCH towards the SeNB). The SeNB may decide which cell is the PSCellwithin the SCG. The MeNB may not change the content of the RRCconfiguration provided by the SeNB. In the case of a SCG addition and aSCG SCell addition, the MeNB may provide the latest measurement resultsfor the SCG cell(s). Both a MeNB and a SeNB may know the SFN andsubframe offset of each other by OAM, (for example, for the purpose ofDRX alignment and identification of a measurement gap). In an example,when adding a new SCG SCell, dedicated RRC signaling may be used forsending required system information of the cell as for CA, except forthe SFN acquired from a MIB of the PSCell of a SCG.

In an example, serving cells may be grouped in a TA group (TAG). Servingcells in one TAG may use the same timing reference. For a given TAG,user equipment (UE) may use at least one downlink carrier as a timingreference. For a given TAG, a UE may synchronize uplink subframe andframe transmission timing of uplink carriers belonging to the same TAG.In an example, serving cells having an uplink to which the same TAapplies may correspond to serving cells hosted by the same receiver. AUE supporting multiple TAs may support two or more TA groups. One TAgroup may contain the PCell and may be called a primary TAG (pTAG). In amultiple TAG configuration, at least one TA group may not contain thePCell and may be called a secondary TAG (sTAG). In an example, carrierswithin the same TA group may use the same TA value and/or the sametiming reference. When DC is configured, cells belonging to a cell group(MCG or SCG) may be grouped into multiple TAGs including a pTAG and oneor more sTAGs.

FIG. 8 shows example TAG configurations as per an aspect of anembodiment of the present disclosure. In Example 1, pTAG comprises aPCell, and an sTAG comprises SCell1. In Example 2, a pTAG comprises aPCell and SCell1, and an sTAG comprises SCell2 and SCell3. In Example 3,pTAG comprises PCell and SCell1, and an sTAG1 includes SCell2 andSCell3, and sTAG2 comprises SCell4. Up to four TAGs may be supported ina cell group (MCG or SCG) and other example TAG configurations may alsobe provided. In various examples in this disclosure, example mechanismsare described for a pTAG and an sTAG. Some of the example mechanisms maybe applied to configurations with multiple sTAGs.

In an example, an eNB may initiate an RA procedure via a PDCCH order foran activated SCell. This PDCCH order may be sent on a scheduling cell ofthis SCell. When cross carrier scheduling is configured for a cell, thescheduling cell may be different than the cell that is employed forpreamble transmission, and the PDCCH order may include an SCell index.At least a non-contention based RA procedure may be supported forSCell(s) assigned to sTAG(s).

FIG. 9 is an example message flow in a random access process in asecondary TAG as per an aspect of an embodiment of the presentdisclosure. An eNB transmits an activation command 600 to activate anSCell. A preamble 602 (Msg1) may be sent by a UE in response to a PDCCHorder 601 on an SCell belonging to an sTAG. In an example embodiment,preamble transmission for SCells may be controlled by the network usingPDCCH format 1A. Msg2 message 603 (RAR: random access response) inresponse to the preamble transmission on the SCell may be addressed toRA-RNTI in a PCell common search space (CSS). Uplink packets 604 may betransmitted on the SCell in which the preamble was transmitted.

According to an embodiment, initial timing alignment may be achievedthrough a random access procedure. This may involve a UE transmitting arandom access preamble and an eNB responding with an initial TA commandNTA (amount of timing advance) within a random access response window.The start of the random access preamble may be aligned with the start ofa corresponding uplink subframe at the UE assuming NTA=0. The eNB mayestimate the uplink timing from the random access preamble transmittedby the UE. The TA command may be derived by the eNB based on theestimation of the difference between the desired UL timing and theactual UL timing. The UE may determine the initial uplink transmissiontiming relative to the corresponding downlink of the sTAG on which thepreamble is transmitted.

The mapping of a serving cell to a TAG may be configured by a servingeNB with RRC signaling. The mechanism for TAG configuration andreconfiguration may be based on RRC signaling. According to variousaspects of an embodiment, when an eNB performs an SCell additionconfiguration, the related TAG configuration may be configured for theSCell. In an example embodiment, an eNB may modify the TAG configurationof an SCell by removing (releasing) the SCell and adding(configuring) anew SCell (with the same physical cell ID and frequency) with an updatedTAG ID. The new SCell with the updated TAG ID may initially be inactivesubsequent to being assigned the updated TAG ID. The eNB may activatethe updated new SCell and start scheduling packets on the activatedSCell. In an example implementation, it may not be possible to changethe TAG associated with an SCell, but rather, the SCell may need to beremoved and a new SCell may need to be added with another TAG. Forexample, if there is a need to move an SCell from an sTAG to a pTAG, atleast one RRC message, (for example, at least one RRC reconfigurationmessage), may be send to the UE to reconfigure TAG configurations byreleasing the SCell and then configuring the SCell as a part of thepTAG. When an SCell is added/configured without a TAG index, the SCellmay be explicitly assigned to the pTAG. The PCell may not change its TAgroup and may be a member of the pTAG.

The purpose of an RRC connection reconfiguration procedure may be tomodify an RRC connection, (for example, to establish, modify and/orrelease RBs, to perform handover, to setup, modify, and/or releasemeasurements, to add, modify, and/or release SCells). If the receivedRRC Connection Reconfiguration message includes the sCellToReleaseList,the UE may perform an SCell release. If the received RRC ConnectionReconfiguration message includes the sCellToAddModList, the UE mayperform SCell additions or modification.

In LTE Release-10 and Release-11 CA, a PUCCH may only be transmitted onthe PCell (PSCell) to an eNB. In LTE-Release 12 and earlier, a UE maytransmit PUCCH information on one cell (PCell or PSCell) to a given eNB.

As the number of CA capable UEs and also the number of aggregatedcarriers increase, the number of PUCCHs and also the PUCCH payload sizemay increase. Accommodating the PUCCH transmissions on the PCell maylead to a high PUCCH load on the PCell. A PUCCH on an SCell may beintroduced to offload the PUCCH resource from the PCell. More than onePUCCH may be configured for example, a PUCCH on a PCell and anotherPUCCH on an SCell. In the example embodiments, one, two or more cellsmay be configured with PUCCH resources for transmitting CSI/ACK/NACK toa base station. Cells may be grouped into multiple PUCCH groups, and oneor more cell within a group may be configured with a PUCCH. In anexample configuration, one SCell may belong to one PUCCH group. SCellswith a configured PUCCH transmitted to a base station may be called aPUCCH SCell, and a cell group with a common PUCCH resource transmittedto the same base station may be called a PUCCH group.

In an example embodiment, a MAC entity may have a configurable timertimeAlignmentTimer per TAG. The timeAlignmentTimer may be used tocontrol how long the MAC entity considers the Serving Cells belonging tothe associated TAG to be uplink time aligned. The MAC entity may, when aTiming Advance Command MAC control element is received, apply the TimingAdvance Command for the indicated TAG; start or restart thetimeAlignmentTimer associated with the indicated TAG. The MAC entitymay, when a Timing Advance Command is received in a Random AccessResponse message for a serving cell belonging to a TAG and/orif theRandom Access Preamble was not selected by the MAC entity, apply theTiming Advance Command for this TAG and start or restart thetimeAlignmentTimer associated with this TAG. Otherwise, if thetimeAlignmentTimer associated with this TAG is not running, the TimingAdvance Command for this TAG may be applied and the timeAlignmentTimerassociated with this TAG started. When the contention resolution isconsidered not successful, a timeAlignmentTimer associated with this TAGmay be stopped. Otherwise, the MAC entity may ignore the received TimingAdvance Command.

In example embodiments, a timer is running once it is started, until itis stopped or until it expires; otherwise it may not be running. A timermay be started if it is not running or restarted if it is running. Forexample, a timer may be started or restarted from its initial value.

Example embodiments of the disclosure may enable operation ofmulti-carrier communications. Other example embodiments may comprise anon-transitory tangible computer readable media comprising instructionsexecutable by one or more processors to cause operation of multi-carriercommunications. Yet other example embodiments may comprise an article ofmanufacture that comprises a non-transitory tangible computer readablemachine-accessible medium having instructions encoded thereon forenabling programmable hardware to cause a device (e.g. wirelesscommunicator, UE, base station, etc.) to enable operation ofmulti-carrier communications. The device may include processors, memory,interfaces, and/or the like. Other example embodiments may comprisecommunication networks comprising devices such as base stations,wireless devices (or user equipment: UE), servers, switches, antennas,and/or the like.

The amount of data traffic carried over cellular networks is expected toincrease for many years to come. The number of users/devices isincreasing and each user/device accesses an increasing number andvariety of services, e.g. video delivery, large files, images. This mayrequire not only high capacity in the network, but also provisioningvery high data rates to meet customers' expectations on interactivityand responsiveness. More spectrum may therefore be needed for cellularoperators to meet the increasing demand. Considering user expectationsof high data rates along with seamless mobility, it may be beneficialthat more spectrum be made available for deploying macro cells as wellas small cells for cellular systems.

Striving to meet the market demands, there has been increasing interestfrom operators in deploying some complementary access utilizingunlicensed spectrum to meet the traffic growth. This is exemplified bythe large number of operator-deployed Wi-Fi networks and the 3GPPstandardization of LTE/WLAN interworking solutions. This interestindicates that unlicensed spectrum, when present, may be an effectivecomplement to licensed spectrum for cellular operators to helpaddressing the traffic explosion in some scenarios, such as hotspotareas. LAA may offer an alternative for operators to make use ofunlicensed spectrum while managing one radio network, thus offering newpossibilities for optimizing the network's efficiency.

In an example embodiment, Listen-before-talk (clear channel assessment)may be implemented for transmission in an LAA cell. In alisten-before-talk (LBT) procedure, equipment may apply a clear channelassessment (CCA) check before using the channel. For example, the CCAmay utilize at least energy detection to determine the presence orabsence of other signals on a channel in order to determine if a channelis occupied or clear, respectively. For example, European and Japaneseregulations mandate the usage of LBT in the unlicensed bands. Apart fromregulatory requirements, carrier sensing via LBT may be one way for fairsharing of the unlicensed spectrum.

In an example embodiment, discontinuous transmission on an unlicensedcarrier with limited maximum transmission duration may be enabled. Someof these functions may be supported by one or more signals to betransmitted from the beginning of a discontinuous LAA downlinktransmission. Channel reservation may be enabled by the transmission ofsignals, by an LAA node, after gaining channel access via a successfulLBT operation, so that other nodes that receive the transmitted signalwith energy above a certain threshold sense the channel to be occupied.Functions that may need to be supported by one or more signals for LAAoperation with discontinuous downlink transmission may include one ormore of the following: detection of the LAA downlink transmission(including cell identification) by UEs, time & frequency synchronizationof UEs, and/or the like.

In an example embodiment, a DL LAA design may employ subframe boundaryalignment according to LTE-A carrier aggregation timing relationshipsacross serving cells aggregated by CA. This may not imply that the eNBtransmissions can start only at the subframe boundary. LAA may supporttransmitting PDSCH when not all OFDM symbols are available fortransmission in a subframe according to LBT. Delivery of necessarycontrol information for the PDSCH may also be supported.

An LBT procedure may be employed for fair and friendly coexistence ofLAA with other operators and technologies operating in an unlicensedspectrum. LBT procedures on a node attempting to transmit on a carrierin an unlicensed spectrum may require the node to perform a clearchannel assessment to determine if the channel is free for use. An LBTprocedure may involve at least energy detection to determine if thechannel is being used. For example, regulatory requirements in someregions, for example, in Europe, may specify an energy detectionthreshold such that if a node receives energy greater than thisthreshold, the node assumes that the channel is not free. While nodesmay follow such regulatory requirements, a node may optionally use alower threshold for energy detection than that specified by regulatoryrequirements. In an example, LAA may employ a mechanism to adaptivelychange the energy detection threshold. For example, LAA may employ amechanism to adaptively lower the energy detection threshold from anupper bound. Adaptation mechanism(s) may not preclude static orsemi-static setting of the threshold. In an example a Category 4 LBTmechanism or other type of LBT mechanisms may be implemented.

Various example LBT mechanisms may be implemented. In an example, forsome signals, in some implementation scenarios, in some situations,and/or in some frequencies, no LBT procedure may performed by thetransmitting entity. In an example, Category 2 (for example, LBT withoutrandom back-off) may be implemented. The duration of time that thechannel is sensed to be idle before the transmitting entity transmitsmay be deterministic. In an example, Category 3 (for example, LBT withrandom back-off with a contention window of fixed size) may beimplemented. The LBT procedure may have the following procedure as oneof its components. The transmitting entity may draw a random number Nwithin a contention window. The size of the contention window may bespecified by the minimum and maximum value of N. The size of thecontention window may be fixed. The random number N may be employed inthe LBT procedure to determine the duration of time that the channel issensed to be idle before the transmitting entity transmits on thechannel. In an example, Category 4 (for example, LBT with randomback-off with a contention window of variable size) may be implemented.The transmitting entity may draw a random number N within a contentionwindow. The size of the contention window may be specified by a minimumand maximum value of N. The transmitting entity may vary the size of thecontention window when drawing the random number N. The random number Nmay be employed in the LBT procedure to determine the duration of timethat the channel is sensed to be idle before the transmitting entitytransmits on the channel.

LAA may employ uplink LBT at the UE. The UL LBT scheme may be differentfrom the DL LBT scheme (for example, by using different LBT mechanismsor parameters), since the LAA UL may be based on scheduled access whichaffects a UE's channel contention opportunities. Other considerationsmotivating a different UL LBT scheme include, but are not limited to,multiplexing of multiple UEs in a single subframe.

In an example, a DL transmission burst may be a continuous transmissionfrom a DL transmitting node with no transmission immediately before orafter from the same node on the same CC. A UL transmission burst from aUE perspective may be a continuous transmission from a UE with notransmission immediately before or after from the same UE on the sameCC. In an example, a UL transmission burst may be defined from a UEperspective. In an example, a UL transmission burst may be defined froman eNB perspective. In an example, in case of an eNB operating DL+UL LAAover the same unlicensed carrier, DL transmission burst(s) and ULtransmission burst(s) on LAA may be scheduled in a TDM manner over thesame unlicensed carrier. For example, an instant in time may be part ofa DL transmission burst or an UL transmission burst.

In an example embodiment, in an unlicensed cell, a downlink burst may bestarted in a subframe. When an eNB accesses the channel, the eNB maytransmit for a duration of one or more subframes. The duration maydepend on a maximum configured burst duration in an eNB, the dataavailable for transmission, and/or eNB scheduling algorithm. FIG. 10shows an example downlink burst in an unlicensed (e.g. licensed assistedaccess) cell. The maximum configured burst duration in the exampleembodiment may be configured in the eNB. An eNB may transmit the maximumconfigured burst duration to a UE employing an RRC configurationmessage.

The wireless device may receive from a base station at least one message(for example, an RRC) comprising configuration parameters of a pluralityof cells. The plurality of cells may comprise at least one license celland at least one unlicensed (for example, an LAA cell). Theconfiguration parameters of a cell may, for example, compriseconfiguration parameters for physical channels, (for example, a ePDCCH,PDSCH, PUSCH, PUCCH and/or the like).

In an example, an eNB and/or UE may support a plurality of radioresource types. In an example, various radio resource types may beconfigured with various TTIs and/or numerologies. In an example, a firstradio resource type may operate using at least one first TTI/numerologyand a second radio resource type may operate using at least one secondTTI/numerology. In an example, various resource types may operate indifferent frequencies or frequency bands. In an example, a first radioresource type may operate on one or more licensed cells and a secondradio resource type may operate on one or more unlicensed cells. Anexample may use a combination of various features to determine a radioresource type, e.g. frequency, TTI/numerology, frequency band type, etc.Some of the example embodiments are provided for licensed and unlicensed(e.g. LAA cells) radio resource types. These examples may equally applywhen other radio resource types are implemented, e.g., based onTTI/numerology.

The term eNB used in the various embodiments in this specification mayrefer to a base station in an LTE network or an enhanced LTE (eLTE)network or a 5G network.

In an example, when operating on LAA UL-carriers, the UE may perform anLBT process. The UE may monitor the channel. If the channel is free, theUE may transmit. If the channel is occupied, the UE may not transmit atransport block (TB). The monitoring period may be in the order ofmicroseconds. After receiving a grant, the UE may have a limited time(e.g., in the order of milliseconds) to build a MAC PDU and deliver theTB to physical layer (PHY). In an example, the UE may not be capable ofbuilding a MAC PDU on a microsecond level. The MAC may already havebuilt the MAC PDU and have sent the MAC PDY to PHY before LBT isperformed. In an example, it may not be feasible for a UE to firstevaluate if a channel is free and then start building the MAC PDU. TheLBT mechanism may be located below MAC (e.g. in PHY). In an example,higher layers (e.g. MAC) may not know the outcome of LBT when buildingrespective protocol data units (PDUs). In an example, the PHY may notneed an indication from MAC to perform LBT. PHY may be aware if atransmission needs to be performed as PHY may be aware of scheduling andmay also receive a TB from MAC prior to the transmission. PHY mayperform LBT without a request from MAC.

In an example, higher layers in a UE may need to know whether atransmission was performed or not (e.g., due to LBT) after atransmission is attempted. For example, in the case of a random-accesspreamble transmission dropping due to LBT, the MAC layer may need toknow whether a preamble was transmitted or not. A similar procedure toDual Connectivity may be employed where PHY indicates to MAC whether aplanned preamble transmission was dropped due to power limitation. PHYmay indicate to higher layers whether a transmission has been droppeddue to LBT.

In 3GPP release 13, for downlink LAA, four Channel Access PriorityClasses were defined. In an example implementation, uplink LAA may reusethe four Channel Access Priority Classes that are defined for downlinkLAA.

In an example, a UE may determine an LBT priority class for an uplink,e.g., the UE may use the LBT priority class indicated by an UL grant(e.g., signaled in downlink), or the UE may select the LBT priorityclass based on a predetermined rule. In an example, the LBT priorityclass selected for uplink transmission in unlicensed carriers may bedetermined based on the QoS requirements of the data carried in thetransmission.

In legacy LTE release 13 and before, the eNB may perform scheduling sothat QoS requirements for data radio bearers (DRB s) are met in bothdownlink and uplink. In the uplink, the eNB may control the schedulingof uplink data by configuring the following parameters for a logicalchannel (e.g. mapped one-to-one to a DRB) at the MAC layer: Priority,Prioritized Bit Rate (PBR), and Bucket Size Duration (BSD). The UE mayapply a logical channel prioritization (LCP) procedure to construct aMAC PDU based on these configured values. The LCP procedure may allowQoS sensitive traffic to be prioritized and ensure that QoS toleranttraffic is not completely starved. An example embodiment enhances theexisting Logical Channel Prioritization (LCP) procedure for assemblingMAC PDUs for enhanced LAA.

In an example, the eNB may not be fully able to predict the QoS class ofthe data that is eventually transmitted over an unlicensed carrier. Forexample, current LCP rules may not always result in the most QoSsensitive data to be selected for transmission. In order to enablefairness, the LCP mechanism may prevent higher priority logical channelsfrom exhausting every grant from the eNB based on PBR and BSDparameters. The QoS sensitive data may have been sent over a licensedcarrier before LBT is successful, leaving relatively QoS tolerant datafor transmission over unlicensed carrier. In an example, a UE may decidethe uplink LBT priority class to enable consistency between the selectedLBT priority class and the QoS requirements of the associated data.

In an example embodiment, the eNB may not signal an LBT value to a UE.The UE may use the LCP procedure to construct the MAC PDU. The resultingMAC PDU may contain data from different logical channels/DRBs.

In an example embodiment, there may be a mapping from a QoS classidentifier (QCI) to a priority class. The UE may pick an LBT priorityclass corresponding to the most QoS sensitive data. For example, let b1,. . . , bn be the DRBs represented in the MAC PDU. Let P1, . . . , Pn bethe LBT priority class values corresponding to these DRBs, e.g., bymapping their respective QCI value to LBT priority class. The LBTpriority class P employed by the UE for transmitting this particular MACPDU may be P=min(P1, . . . , Pn).

In an example embodiment, the LBT priority class for a logical channelmay be mapped from the logical channel priority configured by the eNB.In an example, let P1, . . . , Pn be the LBT priority class values forthe logical channels represented in the MAC PDU, obtained by mappingtheir respective logical channel priority value to LBT priority class.The LBT priority class P employed by the UE for transmitting thisparticular MAC PDU may be P=min(P1, . . . , Pn).

In an example, the QCI for a DRB may be signaled by NAS messaging andmay not be by the eNB. The logical channel priority may be configuredfor a logical channel by the eNB and may be reconfigured as per an eNBpolicy. Using logical channel priority as a criteria for determininguplink LBT class may provide more flexibility and control to the eNB.Logical channel priority of a logical channel (along with other linklayer protocol configuration parameters) may be determined (e.g., in theeNB) by a QCI value of the associated DRB, so there may not be muchdifference in using either a QCI or a logical channel priority formapping uplink LBT priority class. When the eNB does not signal anuplink LBT priority class value to use for single subframe PUSCHtransmission, either the QCI or the logical channel priority based LBTpriority class determination scheme may be employed by the UE todetermine the uplink LBT priority class.

In an example, the eNB may signal the LBT priority class, eitherexplicitly or implicitly. In an example, the MAC PDU may be constructedusing an LCP procedure. Let PeNB be the uplink LBT priority classindicated by the eNB. In an example, a UE may perform uplink LBT withindicated LBT priority (P_(eNB)). In an example, let P_(UE) be thepriority value determined using the QCI or logical channel prioritybased methods described above. The LBT priority value employed by the UEmay be P=max(P_(eNB), P_(UE)).

In an example implementation, for multi-subframe transmissions using aCategory-4 LBT, the choice of an LBT class and transmission duration maysatisfy restrictions on maximum channel occupancy time per LBT class.The Category-4 LBT may be performed for the first subframe of aconsecutive multi-subframe transmission over unlicensed PUSCH.

In an example, an eNB may indicate an LBT priority class value and atransmission duration to a UE either explicitly or implicitly. Forexample, the eNB may indicate the LBT priority. The UE may assume thatthe transmission duration is limited by the corresponding maximumchannel occupancy time (MCOT) value. In an example, the eNB may indicatethe transmission duration, and the UE may assume the LBT priority classto use is the most aggressive LBT priority class whose MCOT is equal toor larger than the indicated transmission duration. A table includingLBT priorities and MCOT values may be configured in the UE.

In an example, QoS support may be implemented using radio bearers in anair interface. In release 13 of 3GPP carrier aggregation, a radio bearermay be transmitted/received on any serving cell, and there may be nospecial handling for QoS since there may be no major difference in theradio environments on serving cells. When an UL LAA is configured, theremay be a desire to enhance the current handling for QoS. Exampleembodiments existing MAC and QoS mechanisms to enable more efficient QoSmanagement when UL LAA is configured.

The radio environment in an unlicensed spectrum may be quite differentcompared with that in a licensed spectrum. In a spectrum, there may bevarious sources for interference which may be outside the control of anoperator, e.g., other radio access technologies (RATs) (e.g. Wi-Fi) orLAA-capable eNB and/or UEs of other operators, etc. The unlicensedcarrier might be switched off due to very strong interference. Inaddition, LBT may be supported to meet regulatory requirements. This mayimpact QoS of some bearers, e.g. latency requirements might not besatisfied. Examples of such bearers may comprise voice, real timegaming, SRB, combinations thereof, and/or the like. In an example, QoSof services like a best-effort service may not be impacted whenoperating on LAA cells.

Consider a bearer carried over radio link control (RLC) unacknowledgedmode (UM). Whenever there is a UL grant in one of the serving cells, aUE may apply logical channel prioritization to decide how to utilize theUL grant. In 3GPP release 13, the UE may not distinguish between onwhich carrier it receives the UL grant. It may be possible that the UEtransmits data of a delay sensitive service on unlicensed spectrum, andsome packets may be lost due to unstable radio conditions and/or morelatency may be expected to successfully complete HARQ operation(s).Therefore, the delay requirement may not be satisfied due to unstableradio conditions in unlicensed spectrum.

In an example embodiment, bearers/logical channels and/or MAC ControlElements may be configured as to whether they may be offloaded to LAASCells or whether they may only be served by licensed carriers. Becauseof LBT for UL transmission, there may be no guarantee that a packet sentover an LAA SCell will be received within some time limit. In anexample, data from delay sensitive bearers (e.g. voice, RRC signaling)may not be transmitted over the UL LAA SCells.

In an example, a bearer may be configured to either use the UL grant forUL LAA SCells only or for licensed serving cells only or for any servingcells. In an example, a bearer may be configured to use UL grants onlyfor UL licensed serving cells. Otherwise, it may use the UL grants fromany serving cells as per legacy.

In an example, in order for an eNB to know what UL grant to provide(e.g., for unlicensed or licensed serving cells), the UE may need toinform the eNB which bearers have UL data for transmission. In theexisting LTE, the UE may send Buffer Status Reporting (BSR) to the eNB.The Buffer Status report may include a logical channel group ID and itscorresponding UL buffer status. For example, a 2-bit logical channelgroup ID (LCGID) may be eNB configured to group the logical channels ofthe same or similar QoS in one group ID. This may allow the eNB toperform inter and intra UE prioritization for allocating UL resources.In an example, LCGID may be reused or extended to take into accountlogical channels that may use the UL grants only for the UL licensedcells and the logical channels that may use the UL grants for both theUL LAA SCells and other licensed UL serving cells.

In an example, LCGID #0 may be employed for RRC signaling and/or delaysensitive services (e.g. voice, streaming video). If a UE's servingcells comprise a UL LAA SCell and the BSR indicates only the bufferstatus from LCGID #0, the eNB may not allocate a UL grant from the LAASCell to the UE. In an example, to achieve the inter- and intra-UEprioritization from the eNB perspective, the UL resources for PUSCH maybe classified as licensed carrier and unlicensed carrier. For ULresources for PUSCH in licensed carrier, LCGID #0 (regardless of whetherthe UE has UL LAA SCell) may be considered higher priority than otherLCGIDs by the eNB scheduler. The UEs with LCGID #0 configured may bescheduled using legacy approaches (e.g. round-robin, etc.). For ULresources for PUSCH in an unlicensed carrier, the eNB may schedule theUL resources based on eNB implementation setting of priority for the LCG#1 to #3.

In an example implementation, there may be one BSR for logical channelsthat may only use UL grants for licensed serving cells and another BSRfor logical channels that may use both. A BSR may be triggered byseparate BSR procedures.

In an example embodiment, a UE may include more information in the BSRto differentiate between buffer status of logical channels that may useonly the UL grant of the UL licensed serving cells and the buffer statusof logical channels that may use the UL grant for both UL LAA SCells andthe licensed UL serving cells.

In an example, a Logical Channel Prioritization (LCP) procedure may beapplied when a new transmission is performed. In order for the UE MAC todifferentiate whether a new transmission is on a UL LAA SCell or on a ULserving cell, layer 1 (L1) may indicate to the MAC layer whether a ULgrant is for a UL LAA SCell or for a licensed serving cell. In anexample, for a new transmission on a UL LAA SCell, the UE MAC entity mayapply the logical channel prioritization procedure on the logicalchannels configured by RRC that may use the UL grants for both the ULLAA SCells and the licensed UL serving cells. The logical channels thatmay only use the UL grants for the licensed UL serving cells may not beconsidered for the new transmission on a UL LAA SCell.

In an example, RRC may control the scheduling of uplink data byconfiguring a logical channel with one or more parameters. The one ormore parameters may comprise: priority where an increasing priorityvalue may indicate a lower priority level, prioritisedBitRate which mayset the Prioritized Bit Rate (PBR), and bucketSizeDuration which may setthe Bucket Size Duration (BSD).

In an example, a MAC entity may maintain a variable Bj for a logicalchannel j. Bj may be initialized to zero when the logical channel j isestablished, and incremented by the product PBR×TTI duration for atransmission time interval (TTI), where PBR is a Prioritized Bit Rate oflogical channel j. The value of Bj may not exceed the bucket size. Ifthe value of Bj is larger than the bucket size of logical channel j, itmay be set to the bucket size. The bucket size of a logical channel isequal to PBR×BSD, where PBR and BSD may be configured by upper layers.

FIG. 11 is an example IE LogicalChannelConfig information element forconfiguring the logical channel parameters. In an example,bucketSizeDuration may indicate a Bucket Size Duration for logicalchannel prioritization. Value may be in milliseconds. Value equal toms50 may correspond to 50 ms, ms100 may correspond to 100 ms, and so on.The logicalChannelGroup may map a logical channel to a logical channelgroup for BSR reporting. The logicalChannelSR-Mask may controlscheduling request (SR) triggering on a logical channel basis when anuplink grant is configured. The logicalChannelSR-Prohibit may comprise avalue of TRUE or FALSE. The value TRUE may indicate that thelogicalChannelSR-ProhibitTimer is enabled for the logical channel.E-UTRAN may optionally configure the field (i.e. indicate value TRUE) iflogicalChannelSR-ProhibitTimer is configured. The prioritisedBitRate mayindicate Prioritized Bit Rate for logical channel prioritization. Thevalue of prioritisedBitRate may be in kilobytes/second. Value kBps0 maycorrespond to 0 kB/second, kBps8 may correspond to 8 kB/second, kBps16may correspond to 16 kB/second, and so on. The value infinity may beapplicable for SRB1 and SRB2 signaling radio bearers. The parameterpriority may indicate a logical channel priority. The value of prioritymay be an integer. The parameter unlicensed-prohibited may indicate alogical channel mapping restriction. In an example, value TRUE mayindicate that the data in logical channel may not be transmitted overunlicensed cells.

In an example implementation, a UE may follow one or more rules duringscheduling procedures. An example rule may be that the UE may notsegment an RLC SDU (or partially transmitted SDU or retransmitted RLCPDU) if the whole SDU (or partially transmitted SDU or retransmitted RLCPDU) fits into the remaining resources of the associated MAC entity. Inan example, if the UE segments an RLC SDU from the logical channel, itmay maximize the size of the segment to fill the grant of the associatedMAC entity as much as possible. In an example, the UE may maximize thetransmission of data. If the MAC entity is given a UL grant size that isequal to or larger than 4 bytes while having data available fortransmission, the MAC entity may not transmit only padding BSR and/orpadding (unless the UL grant size is less than 7 bytes and an AMD PDUsegment needs to be transmitted). The MAC entity may not transmit datafor a logical channel corresponding to a radio bearer that is suspended.

In an example Logical Channel Prioritization procedure, the MAC entitymay take into account the following relative priority in decreasingorder: MAC control element for C-RNTI or data from UL-CCCH; MAC controlelement for BSR, with exception of BSR included for padding; MAC controlelement for PHR, Extended PHR, or Dual Connectivity PHR; MAC controlelement for Sidelink BSR, with exception of Sidelink BSR included forpadding; data from any Logical Channel, except data from UL-CCCH; MACcontrol element for BSR included for padding; MAC control element forSidelink BSR included for padding.

In an example embodiment, some bearers/logical channels may only betransmitted via licensed cells, and some bearers/logical channels may betransmitted via both licensed and unlicensed cells. In an example, aneNB may signal a UE (e.g., by RRC configuration and/or dynamicsignaling) which logical channel(s)/bearer(s) may only be sent only onthe licensed cells.

In an example, a listen-before-talk (LBT) priority class may correspondto one or more logical channels. A logical channel may have a one-to-onerelation with a LBT priority class. In an example, the eNB may indicatethe LBT priority to be applied before transmission of a UE on a LAASCell. The indication may be in a common DCI or uplink grant and the UEmay allocate resources on the LAA SCell to the logical channel(s) thatcorrespond to the indicated LBT priority class. In an implementation,the MAC entity of a UE may construct the MAC PDU(s) for a subframe or aburst on a LAA SCell from logical channels that correspond to the LBTpriority class indicated by eNB and/or LBT priority classes withstricter LBT requirements. In an implementation, the MAC entity of a UEmay start transmission of a burst on a LAA SCell with logical channel(s)that correspond to the indicated LBT priority class. Once the buffer(s)for this(these) logical channel(s) is(are) emptied, the UE may continuetransmission in the burst and/or subframe with data from logicalchannel(s) that correspond to stricter LBT requirements.

In an example, a UE may autonomously decide which LBT priority class toapply before transmission on a LAA SCell based on the content of itstransmission on the LAA SCell in a TTI or a burst (e.g., the logicalchannels that are multiplexed in a TTI or burst) and/or other criteria.In an example, the MAC PDU(s) transmitted on a LAA SCell may comprisemultiple logical channels with different LB T priority requirements. Inone implementation, a UE may autonomously decide on a LBT priority classand transmit logical channel(s) that correspond to the LBT priorityclass.

In an implementation, a UE may start allocating resources on a LAA SCellto the logical channel(s) that correspond to the LBT priority classindicated by eNB, even if one or more of these logical channels have avalue of Bj≤0. In an implementation, a UE may start allocating resourceson a LAA SCell to a subset of logical channel(s) that correspond to theindicated LBT priority with Bj>0.

In an example, a UE may have an uplink rate control function whichmanages the sharing of uplink resources between radio bearers. RRC maycontrol the uplink rate control function by giving a bearer a priorityand a prioritized bit rate (PBR). In an example, the values signalledmay not be related to the ones signalled via S1 to the eNB. In anexample, the uplink rate control function may enable the UE to serve itsradio bearer(s) as follows. The radio bearer(s) may be served indecreasing priority order up to their PBR. The radio bearer(s) may beserved in decreasing priority order for the remaining resources assignedby the grant. In case the PBRs are set to zero, the radio bearer(s) maybe served in strict priority order. In an example, the UE may maximizethe transmission of higher priority data. By limiting the total grant tothe UE, the eNB may control that the UE-AMBR plus the sum of MBRs is notexceeded. The eNB may enforce the MBR of an uplink radio bearer bytriggering congestion indications towards higher layers and by shapingthe data rate towards the S1 interface. In an example, if more than oneradio bearer has the same priority, the UE may serve these radio bearersequally.

In an example embodiment, a UE may construct a MAC PDU or several MACPDUs corresponding to a grant for a LAA SCell. In an example, a UE maydetermine the LBT priority class to be applied before transmission ofthe TB(s) based on the content of the MAC PDU(s). In an example, the MAClayer may determine the LBT priority class and indicate it to the PHYlayer. In an example, there may be a one-to-one mapping between alogical channel priority and a LBT priority class. A UE may choose theLBT priority class to be the lowest (e.g., least strict) LBT priorityclass that correspond to the logical channels multiplexed in a MAC PDU.

In an example embodiment, an eNB may signal the LBT priority class to aUE, corresponding to a grant for a LAA SCell, that needs to be appliedbefore transmission on the LAA SCell. In an example, an eNB may signalto a UE, the LBT priority class corresponding to a grant. A UE may groupthe grants that correspond to the same LBT priority class. In anexample, a UE may not group the grants that correspond to different LBTpriority classes. In an example, a UE may multiplex logical channel(s)corresponding to the signaled LBT priority class and logical channelscorresponding to higher number (e.g., stricter) LBT priority classesduring the logical channel prioritization procedure for a grant (orgroup of grants, e.g., with the same signaled LBT priority class). Ahigher LBT priority number may result in lower access opportunity fordata transmission. In an example, a UE may multiplex logical channel(s)corresponding to the signaled LBT priority class for the grant (or thegroup of grants, e.g., with the same signaled LBT priority class). In anexample, once data from this(these) logical channels are exhausted, thelogical channel(s) corresponding to the higher (e.g., stricter) LBTpriority classes may be multiplexed during the logical channelprioritization procedure. A UE may continue multiplexing logicalchannel(s) corresponding to higher LBT priority classes one by one.

In an example Scheduling mechanism, a UE may receive grants fortransmission on one or more first radio resource type (e.g., licensedcell(s)) and one or more second radio resource type (e.g., LAA SCell(s))in a TTI. In an example, the UE may determine an LBT priority class fora grant on LAA SCells, e.g., based on logical channel priority of thedata in the corresponding TB.

In the legacy logical channel prioritization procedure in LTE-Advanced,when the MAC entity is requested to transmit multiple MAC PDUs in oneTTI, the LCP procedure rules may be applied either to each grantindependently or to the sum of the capacities of the grants. Processingeach grant independently may decrease uplink multiplexing efficiency andprocessing the sum of the capacities of the grants may reduce uplinkmultiplexing efficiency and resource allocation flexibility. The legacymethods may reduce uplink radio link throughput, especially whendifferent grants are for different radio resource types. There is a needto improve uplink multiplexing and logical channel prioritizationprocedures when grants are for different radio resource types.Furthermore, legacy mechanisms do not take into account the mappingrestrictions of logical channels to a plurality resource types indicatedthe plurality of grants. The legacy method of processing the sum of thecapacities of the grants, therefore, may lead to inefficient datamultiplexing as a LCP process does not distinguish the differencebetween resource resources and processes the pooled resources jointly.When legacy methods are implemented and the mapping of the logicalchannels to the plurality of grants are different, the MAC entity maynot efficiently allocate resource from the grouped grant.

Example embodiments provides flexibility and improves radio resourceefficiency by grouping grants into a plurality of grouped grantsaccording pre-defined criteria. Grouping mechanisms in exampleembodiments provide advantages over other types of groupings byconsidering logical channel mappings and/or radio resource types.Considering logical channel mapping restrictions and/or radio resourcetypes in grouping grants enables a UE to consider RRC logical channelconfiguration parameters, and resource type and/or priority informationindicated by the DCI to enhance uplink multiplexing. Example groupingsimproves radio resource efficiency by adding flexibility in processingthe grants compared with processing each grant separately, processingall the grants together, and/or employing other grouping mechanisms.

In an example embodiment, the MAC entity may consider both of thegrouped grants on second radio resource type (e.g., LAA SCells) (withsum capacity equal to sum of capacities of grants for the second radioresource type) and the grouped grants for the first radio resource type(e.g., licensed cells) (with capacity equal to the sum of the capacityof grants for the first radio resource type) when serving the logicalchannels (see e.g., FIG. 12).

In an example embodiment, the logical channels with Bj>0 may beallocated resources in a decreasing priority order and a logical channelmay be served up to its PBR. In an example, if the PBR of a logicalchannel is “infinity,” the data of the logical channel that is availablefor transmission may be served. If a logical channel may only betransmitted on the first radio resource type (e.g., licensed cells), theresources from grouped grants on the first radio resource type (e.g.,licensed cells) may be allocated. If a logical channel may betransmitted on either the first radio resource type (e.g., licensedcells) or the second radio resource type (e.g., LAA SCells) or both andthere are at least as much resources in the grouped grants on the secondradio resource type (e.g., LA SCells) to achieve the PBR of the logicalchannel, the MAC entity may allocate resources from the grouped grantsfor the second radio resource type. If there are not enough resources inthe grouped grants for the second radio resource type (e.g., LAA SCells)to achieve the PBR of the logical channel, the MAC entity may allocateremaining resources from the grouped grants for the second radioresource type (e.g., LAA cells). The MAC entity may allocate resourcesfrom the grouped grants for the first radio resource type (e.g.,licensed cells) to achieve resource allocation for the logical channelup to the PBR of the logical channel. The allocation of resources fromthe grouped grants for the first radio resource type may, according toan embodiment, follow the allocation of resources from the groupedgrants for the first radio resource type. In an example, the MAC entitymay decrement Bj of a logical channel by the total size of MAC SDUsserved to logical channel j.

In an example, embodiment, if resources remain in the grouped grants forthe second radio resource type (e.g., LAA SCells) or the grouped grantsfor the first radio resource type (e.g., licensed cells), logicalchannels, regardless of the value of Bj, may be served in a decreasingpriority order. If a logical channel may only be transmitted on thefirst radio resource type (e.g., licensed cells), the data in thelogical channel may be served until either the data or the groupedgrants for the first radio resource type (e.g., licensed cells) isexhausted, whichever comes first. If a logical channel may betransmitted on both the first radio resource type (e.g., licensed cells)and the second radio resource type (e.g., LAA SCells), the data in thelogical channel may be served until either the data is exhausted or thegrouped grants for the first radio resource type (e.g., licensed cells)and the grouped grants for the second radio resource type (e.g., LAASCells) is exhausted, whichever comes first. In an example, the data inthe logical channel may be served starting with the grouped grants forthe second radio resource type (e.g., LAA cells) and then the groupedgrants for the first radio resource type (e.g., licensed cells).

An example of logical channel prioritization is depicted in FIG. 12. Inthe example of FIG. 12, it may be assumed that Bj of logical channelsmay be positive at the start of logical channel prioritizationprocedure. In an example, the radio resource type 1 may be a licensedcell type. In an example, the radio resource type 2 may be an unlicensedcell type. Other example radio resource types may be provided.

In an example, the MAC entity may perform a Logical ChannelPrioritization procedure when a new transmission is performed. In anexample implementation, the MAC entity may allocate resources to thelogical channels as follows. The MAC entity may consider both thegrouped grants on a second radio resource type (e.g., LAA SCells) (withcapacity equal to the the sum of the capacity of grants for the secondradio resource type) and the grouped grants for the first radio resourcetype (e.g., licensed cells) (with capacity equal to the sum of thecapacity of grants for the first radio resource type). The logicalchannels with Bj>0 may be allocated resources in a decreasing priorityorder. The PBR of a logical channel that may be transmitted on both thefirst radio resource type (e.g., licensed cells) and the second radioresource type (e.g., LAA SCells) may be first mapped to remainingresources (if any) on the grouped grants for the second radio resourcetype (e.g., LAA SCells), and then mapped to remaining resources (if any)on the grouped grants for the first radio resource type (e.g., licensedcells). In an example, if the PBR of a logical channel is set to“infinity,” the MAC entity may allocate resources for the data that isavailable for transmission on the logical channel before meeting the PBRof the lower priority logical channel(s). The MAC entity may decrementBj by the total size of MAC SDUs served to logical channel j above. Thevalue of Bj may be negative. If any resources remain on the groupedgrants for the first radio resource type (e.g., licensed cells) or thegrouped grants for the second radio resource type (e.g., LAA SCells),the logical channels may be served in a strict decreasing priority orderconsidering the logical channel mapping restriction (regardless of thevalue of Bj) until either the data for that logical channel or bothgrouped UL grants are exhausted, whichever comes first. Logical channelsconfigured with equal priority may be served equally.

In an example, a wireless device may receive at least one control packetindicating: at least one first grant in a subframe of one or more firstradio resource type (e.g., licensed cells), and at least one secondgrant in the subframe of one or more second radio resource type (e.g.,license-assisted-access (LAA) cells). The wireless device may calculatea first resource type (e.g., licensed) aggregate grant by summing thecapacity of the at least one first grant. The wireless device maycalculate a second radio resource type (e.g., LAA) aggregate grant bysumming the capacity of the at least one first grant. The wirelessdevice may allocate resources to logical channels on the first radioresource aggregate grant and the second radio resource aggregate grant,considering a logical channel mapping restriction. The logical channelmapping restriction may indicate whether a logical channel is prohibitedfrom transmission on a second radio resource type (e.g., an LAA cell).

In an example scheduling mechanism, a UE may receive grants fortransmission on one or more first radio resource type (e.g., licensedcell(s)) and one or more second radio resource type (e.g., LAA SCell(s))in a TTI. In an example, a UE may determine the LBT priority class forthe grant(s) on LAA SCells, e.g., based on logical channel priority ofthe data transmitted in a grant.

In an example, the MAC entity may consider the grouped grants for thesecond radio resource type (e.g., LAA SCells) (with sum capacity equalto sum of capacities of grants for the second radio resource type) andthe grants for the first radio resource type (e.g., licensed cells), oneat a time, when serving the logical channels (see e.g. FIG. 13).

In an example embodiment, for a grant for a first radio resource type(e.g., licensed cells), the logical channels with Bj>0 may be allocatedresources in a decreasing priority order and a logical channel may beserved up to its PBR. If the PBR of a logical channel is “infinity,” thedata of the logical channel that is available for transmission may beserved. If a logical channel may only be transmitted on the first radioresource type (e.g., licensed cells), the resources from the grant forthe first radio resource type may be allocated. If a logical channel maybe transmitted on both first radio resource type (e.g., licensed cells)and the second radio resource type (e.g., LAA SCells) and there are atleast as much resources in the grouped grants for the second radioresource type (e.g., LAA SCells) to achieve the PBR of the logicalchannel, the MAC entity may allocate resources from the grouped grantsfor the second radio resource type (e.g., LAA SCells). If there are notenough resources in the grouped grants on the second radio resource type(e.g., LAA SCells) to achieve the PBR of the logical channel, the MACentity may allocate remaining resources from the grouped grants for thesecond radio resource type (e.g., LAA cells) and then allocate resourcesfrom the grant on the first radio resource type (e.g., licensed cell) toachieve resource allocation for the logical channel up to PBR. The MACentity may decrement Bj of a logical channel by the total size of MACSDUs served to logical channel j. If resources remain in the groupedgrants for the second radio resource type (e.g., on LAA SCells) or thegrant for the first radio resource type (e.g., on licensed cell),logical channels, regardless of the value of Bj, may be served in adecreasing priority order. If a logical channel may only be transmittedon licensed cells, the data in the logical channel may be served untileither the data or the grant for the first radio resource type (e.g., onlicensed cell) is exhausted, whichever comes first. If a logical channelmay be transmitted on both the first radio resource type (e.g., licensedcells) and the second radio resource type (e.g., eLAA SCells), the datain the logical channel may be served until either the data is exhaustedor the grant for the first radio resource type (e.g., on licensed cell)and the grouped grants for the second radio resource type (e.g., on LAASCells) is exhausted, whichever comes first. In an example, the data inthe logical channel may be served starting with grouped grants for thesecond radio resource (e.g., on LAA cells) and then the grant for thefirst radio resource type (on licensed cell).

An example of logical channel prioritization is depicted in FIG. 13. Inthe example of FIG. 13, it may be assumed that Bj of logical channels ispositive at the start of logical channel prioritization procedure andremain positive after the resource allocations. In the example of FIG.13, the MAC entity may start from the grant in licensed cell 1 (LC1). Inan example, the MAC entity may start from an arbitrary grant on licensedcells. In an example, the radio resource type 1 may be a licensed celltype. In an example, the radio resource type 2 may be an unlicensed celltype. Other example radio resource types may be provided.

In an example embodiment, the MAC entity may perform a Logical ChannelPrioritization procedure when a new transmission is performed. The MACentity may allocate resources to the logical channels as follows: TheMAC entity may consider both the grouped grants on the second radioresource type (e.g., LAA SCells) (with capacity equal to the sum of thecapacity of grants for the second radio resource type, e.g., on LAASCells) and the grants for the first radio resource type (e.g., onlicensed cells). For a grant for the first radio resource type (e.g., onlicensed cells), the logical channels with Bj>0 may be allocatedresources in a decreasing priority order. The PBR of a logical channelthat may be transmitted on both first radio resource type (e.g.,licensed cells) and radio resource type 2 (e.g., LAA SCells) is firstmapped to remaining resources (if any) on the grouped grants for thesecond radio resource type (e.g., on LAA SCells), and then mapped toremaining resources (if any) on the grant for the first radio resourcetype (e.g., on licensed cell). If the PBR of a logical channel is set to“infinity,” the MAC entity may allocate resources for the data that isavailable for transmission on the logical channel before meeting the PBRof the lower priority logical channel(s). The MAC entity may decrementBj by the total size of MAC SDUs served to logical channel j above. Thevalue of Bj may be negative. If any resources remain on the grant forthe first radio resource type (e.g., on licensed cell) or the groupedgrant for the second radio resource type (e.g., on LAA SCells), thelogical channels may be served in a strict decreasing priority orderconsidering the logical channel mapping restriction (regardless of thevalue of Bj) until either the data for that logical channel or both ofthe grant for the first radio resource type (e.g., on licensed cell) andthe grouped grants for the second radio resource type (e.g., on LAASCells) are exhausted, whichever comes first. Logical channelsconfigured with equal priority may be served equally.

A wireless device may receive at least one control packet indicating: atleast one first grant in a subframe of one or more first radio resourcetype (e.g., licensed cells), and at least one second grant in thesubframe of one or more second radio resource type (e.g.,license-assisted-access (LAA) cells). The wireless device may calculatea first radio resource type (e.g., licensed) aggregate grant by summingthe capacity of the at least one first grant. The wireless device maycalculate a second radio resource type (e.g., LAA) aggregate grant bysumming the capacity of the at least one first grant. The wirelessdevice may allocate resources to logical channels on the first radioresource type (e.g., licensed) aggregate grant and the second radioresource type (e.g., LAA) aggregate grant, considering a logical channelmapping restriction. The logical channel mapping restriction mayindicate whether a logical channel is prohibited from transmission onthe second radio resource type (e.g., an LAA cell).

In an example Scheduling mechanism, a UE may receive grants fortransmission on one or more first radio resource type (e.g., licensedcell(s)) and one or more second radio type (e.g., LAA SCell(s)) in aTTI. In an example, eNB may signal the LBT priority class for thegrant(s) on LAA SCells. In an example, the MAC entity may group thegrants on LAA SCells with the same signaled LBT priority class. The MACentity may follow the procedures described in one of the above examples(e.g., grouped or non-grouped grants on licensed cells) and may allocateresources to a logical channel that may be transmitted on both licensedcells and LAA SCells from the corresponding individual or grouped grants(e.g., the individual or grouped grants whose LBT priority classcorresponds to the logical channel priority).

In an example scheduling mechanism, a UE may receive grants fortransmission on one or more first radio resource type (e.g., licensedcell(s)) and one or more second radio resource type (e.g., LAA SCell(s))in a TTI. In an example, a UE may determine LBT priority class for thegrant(s) on LAA SCells, e.g. based on logical channel priority of datatransmitted in a grant/TB.

In an example, the MAC entity may consider first the grouped grants forthe second radio resource type (e.g., on LAA SCells) (with capacityequal to sum of capacities of grants for the second radio resource type)and then the grouped grants on the first radio resource type (e.g.,licensed cells) (with capacity equal to the sum of the capacity ofgrants for the first radio resource type) when serving the logicalchannels (See e.g., FIG. 12).

In an example, the resources on the grouped grants for the second radioresource type (e.g., on LAA SCells) may be allocated to the logicalchannels with Bj>0 that may be transmitted on both first radio resourcetype (e.g., licensed cells) and second radio resource type (e.g., LAASCells) in a decreasing priority order and a logical channel may beserved up to its PBR. In an example, if the PBR of a logical channel is“infinity,” the data of the logical channel that is available fortransmission may be served. The MAC entity may decrement Bj of a logicalchannel by the total size of MAC SDUs served to logical channel j in thefirst action. If resources remain in the grouped grants for the secondradio resource type (e.g., on LAA SCells), the logical channels that maybe transmitted on both first radio resource type (e.g., licensed cells)and second radio resource type (e.g., LAA SCells) may be served in astrict decreasing priority order (regardless of the value of Bj) untileither the data for that logical channel or the grouped grants on LAASCells is exhausted, whichever comes first. Logical channels configuredwith equal priority may be served equally.

In an example, the resources on the grouped grants for the first radioresource type (e.g., on licensed cells) may be allocated to the logicalchannels with Bj>0 that may only be transmitted on the first radioresource type (e.g., licensed cells) in a decreasing priority order anda logical channel may be served up to its PBR. If the PBR of a logicalchannel is “infinity,” of the data of the logical channel that isavailable for transmission may be served. If there is(are) logicalchannel(s) with Bj>0 that may be transmitted on both first radioresource type (e.g., licensed cells) and the second radio resource type(e.g., LAA SCells) and have not received enough resources to achieve its(their) PBR, the MAC entity may allocate resources from the groupedgrants for the first radio resource type (e.g., on licensed cells) tosuch logical channel(s) up to its(their) PBR in a decreasing logicalchannel priority order. The MAC entity may decrement Bj of a logicalchannel by the total size of MAC SDUs served to logical channel j in theabove action. If resources remain in the grouped grants for the firstradio resource type (e.g., on licensed cells), the logical channels maybe served in a strict decreasing priority order (regardless of the valueof Bj) until either the data for that logical channel or the groupedgrants for the first radio resource type (e.g. on licensed cells) isexhausted, whichever comes first. Logical channels configured with equalpriority may be served equally.

An example of logical channel prioritization is depicted in FIG. 12. Inthe example of FIG. 12, it may be assumed that Bj of logical channels ispositive at the start of logical channel prioritization procedure andremain positive after the resource allocations. In an example, the radioresource type 1 may be a licensed cell type. In an example, the radioresource type 2 may be an unlicensed cell type. Other example radioresource types may be provided.

In an example, the MAC entity may perform a Logical ChannelPrioritization procedure when a new transmission is performed. In anexample implementation, the MAC entity may allocate resources to thelogical channels as follows. The MAC entity may apply the actions 1-3below for logical channels that may be transmitted on both a first radioresource type (e.g., licensed cells) and a second radio resource type(e.g., unlicensed/LAA SCells) to the grouped grants for the second radioresource type (e.g., on LAA SCells) (with capacity equal to the sum ofthe capacity of grants for the second radio resource type). The MACentity may apply the actions 1-2 below for logical channels that mayonly be transmitted on the first radio resource type (e.g., licensedcells) to the grouped grants for the first radio resource type (e.g., onlicensed cells) (with capacity equal to the sum of the capacity ofgrants for the first radio resource type (e.g., on licensed cells)). Inan example, if there is(are) logical channel(s) that may be transmittedon both the first and the second radio resource type (e.g., licensed andunlicensed cells) and has(have) not achieved its PBR, apply and action1-2 below for such logical channel(s) to the grouped grants for thefirst radio resource type (e.g. on licensed cells). The MAC entity mayapply action 3 below for logical channels to the grouped grants onlicensed cells.

For action 1, the logical channels with Bj>0 may be allocated resourcesin a decreasing priority order. If the PBR of a logical channel is setto “infinity,” the MAC entity may allocate resources for the data thatis available for transmission on the logical channel before meeting thePBR of the lower priority logical channel(s). For action 2, the MACentity may decrement Bj by the total size of MAC SDUs served to logicalchannel j above. The value of Bj may be negative. For action 3, if anyresources remain, the logical channels may be served in a strictdecreasing priority order (regardless of the value of Bj) until eitherthe data for that logical channel or the UL grant is exhausted,whichever comes first. Logical channels configured with equal prioritymay be served equally.

In an example scheduling mechanism, a UE may receive grants fortransmission on one or more licensed cell(s) and one or more LAASCell(s) in a TTI. In an example, a UE may determine LBT priority classfor the grant(s) on LAA SCells, e.g., based on logical channel priorityof data included in a grant/TB.

In an example, the MAC entity may consider first the grants for thesecond radio resource type (e.g., on LAA SCells) and next the grants forthe first radio resource type (e.g., on licensed cells) when serving thelogical channels (See e.g., FIG. 14).

In an example embodiment, for a grant for the second radio resource type(e.g., on LAA SCells). The resources of the grant may be allocated tothe logical channels with Bj>0 that may be transmitted on both the firstradio resource type and the second radio resource type (e.g., licensedcells and LAA SCells) in a decreasing priority order and a logicalchannel may be served up to its PBR. In an example, if the PBR of alogical channel is “infinity,” the data of the logical channel that isavailable for transmission may be served. The MAC entity may decrementBj of a logical channel by the total size of MAC SDUs served to logicalchannel j in the first action. If resources remain in the grant, thelogical channels that may be transmitted on both the first radioresource type and the second radio resource type (e.g., licensed cellsand LAA SCells) may be served in a strict decreasing priority order(regardless of the value of Bj) until either the data for that logicalchannel or the grant is exhausted, whichever comes first. Logicalchannels configured with equal priority may be served equally.

In an example, for a grant for the first radio resource type (e.g., onlicensed cells), the resources of the grant may be allocated to thelogical channels with Bj>0 that may only be transmitted on the firstradio resource type (e.g., on licensed cells) in a decreasing priorityorder and a logical channel may be served up to its PBR. If the PBR of alogical channel is “infinity,” the data of the logical channel that isavailable for transmission may be served. If there is(are) logicalchannel(s) with Bj>0 that may be transmitted on both the first radioresource type and the second radio resource type (e.g., licensed cellsand LAA SCells) and have not received enough resources to achieve its(their) PBR, the MAC entity may allocate resources from the grant tosuch logical channel(s) in a decreasing logical channel priority orderup to its(their) PBR. The MAC entity may decrement Bj of a logicalchannel by the total size of MAC SDUs served to logical channel j in thefifth action. If resources remain in the grant, the logical channels maybe served in a strict decreasing priority order (regardless of the valueof Bj) until either the data for that logical channel or the grant isexhausted, whichever comes first. Logical channels configured with equalpriority may be served equally.

An example of logical channel prioritization is depicted in FIG. 14. Inthe example of FIG. 14, it may be assumed that Bj of logical channels ispositive at the start of logical channel prioritization procedure andremain positive after the resource allocations. In the example of FIG.14, the MAC entity may serve the logical channels in following sequence:grant in LAA SCell 1, grant in LAA SCell 2, grant in licensed cell 1(LC1) and grant in licensed cell 2 (LC2). In an example, the order ofallocating grants in LAA SCell and/or the order of allocating grants inlicensed cells may be arbitrary. In an example, the radio resource type1 may be a licensed cell type. In an example, the radio resource type 2may be an unlicensed cell type. Other example radio resource types maybe provided.

In an example, the MAC entity may perform a Logical ChannelPrioritization procedure when a new transmission is performed. The MACentity may allocate resources to the logical channels as follows. TheMAC entity may apply the actions 1-3 below for logical channels that maybe transmitted on both a first radio resource type and a second radioresource type (e.g., on licensed cells and LAA SCells) to the grants forthe second radio resource type (e.g., on LAA SCells). In an example, fora grant for a first radio resource type (e.g., on licensed cells), theMAC entity may apply the actions 1-2 below for logical channels that mayonly be transmitted on the first radio resource type (e.g., licensedcells) to the grant. If there is(are) logical channel(s) that may betransmitted on both the first radio resource type and the second radioresource type (e.g., licensed and unlicensed cells) and has(have) notachieved its PBR, apply and action 1-2 below for such logical channel(s)to the grant. The MAC entity may apply action 3 below for logicalchannels to the grant.

For action 1, the logical channels with Bj>0 may be allocated resourcesin a decreasing priority order. If the PBR of a logical channel is setto “infinity,” the MAC entity may allocate resources for the data thatis available for transmission on the logical channel before meeting thePBR of the lower priority logical channel(s). For action 2, the MACentity may decrement Bj by the total size of MAC SDUs served to logicalchannel j above. The value of Bj may be negative. For action 3, if anyresources remain, the logical channels may be served in a strictdecreasing priority order (regardless of the value of Bj) until eitherthe data for that logical channel or the UL grant is exhausted,whichever comes first. Logical channels configured with equal prioritymay be served equally.

In an example scheduling mechanism, a UE may receive grants fortransmission on one or more first radio resource type (e.g., licensedcell(s)) and one or more second radio resource type (e.g., LAA SCell(s))in a TTI. In an example, the UE may determine an LBT priority class forthe grant(s) on LAA SCells, e.g., based on logical channel priority ofthe data included in a grant/TB.

In an example, the MAC entity may first consider the grouped grants forthe second radio resource type (e.g., on LAA SCells) (with capacityequal to sum of capacities of grants for the second radio resourcetype). The MAC entity may next consider the grants on licensed whenserving the logical channels (See e.g., FIG. 13).

In an example embodiment, the resources of the grouped grants for thesecond radio resource type (e.g., on LAA SCells) may be allocated to thelogical channels with Bj>0 that may be transmitted on both the firstradio resource type and the second radio resource type (e.g., onlicensed cells and LAA SCells) in a decreasing priority order and alogical channel may be served up to its PBR. If the PBR of a logicalchannel is “infinity,” the data of the logical channel that is availablefor transmission may be served. The MAC entity may decrement Bj of alogical channel by the total size of MAC SDUs served to logical channelj in the first action. If resources remain in the grouped grant for thesecond radio resource type (e.g., on LAA SCells), the logical channelsthat may be transmitted on both licensed cells and LAA SCells may beserved in a strict decreasing priority order (regardless of the value ofBj) until either the data for that logical channel or the grouped grantis exhausted, whichever comes first. Logical channels configured withequal priority may be served equally.

For a grant for the first radio resource type (e.g., on licensed cells),the resources of the grant may be allocated to the logical channels withBj>0 that may only be transmitted on the first radio resource type(e.g., on licensed cells) in a decreasing priority order and a logicalchannel may be served up to its PBR. If the PBR of a logical channel is“infinity,” the data of the logical channel that is available fortransmission may be served. If there is(are) logical channel(s) withBj>0 that may be transmitted on both the first radio resource type andthe second radio resource type (e.g., licensed cells and LAA SCells) andhave not received enough resources to achieve its (their) PBR, the MACentity may allocate resources from the grant to such logical channel(s)in a decreasing logical channel priority order up to its(their) PBR. TheMAC entity may decrement Bj of a logical channel by the total size ofMAC SDUs served to logical channel j in the fifth action. If resourcesremain in the grant, logical channels may be served in a strictdecreasing priority order (regardless of the value of Bj) until eitherthe data for that logical channel or the grant is exhausted, whichevercomes first. Logical channels configured with equal priority may beserved equally.

An example of logical channel prioritization is depicted in FIG. 13. Inthe example of FIG. 13, it may be assumed that Bj of logical channels ispositive at the start of logical channel prioritization procedure andremain positive after the resource allocations. In the example in FIG.13, the MAC entity may serve the logical channels in following sequence:grouped grants in LAA SCells, grant in licensed cell 1 (LC1) and grantin licensed cell 2 (LC2). In an example, the order of allocating grantsin licensed cells may be arbitrary. In an example, the radio resourcetype 1 may be a licensed cell type. In an example, the radio resourcetype 2 may be an unlicensed cell type. Other example radio resourcetypes may be provided.

In an example, the MAC entity may perform a Logical ChannelPrioritization procedure when a new transmission is performed. In anexample, the MAC entity may allocate resources to the logical channelsas follows. The MAC entity may apply the actions 1-3 below for logicalchannels that may be transmitted on both licensed cells and LAA SCellsto the grouped grants on LAA SCells.

For a grant on a first radio resource type (e.g., on licensed cells),the MAC entity may apply the actions 1-2 below for logical channels thatmay only be transmitted on the first radio resource type (e.g., licensedcells) to the grant. If there is(are) logical channel(s) that may betransmitted on both the first radio resource type and the second radioresource type (e.g., licensed and unlicensed cells) and has(have) notachieved its PBR, apply and action 1-2 below for such logical channel(s)to the grant. The MAC entity may apply action 3 below for logicalchannels to the grant.

For action 1, the logical channels with Bj>0 may be allocated resourcesin a decreasing priority order. If the PBR of a logical channel is setto “infinity,” the MAC entity may allocate resources for the data thatis available for transmission on the logical channel before meeting thePBR of the lower priority logical channel(s). For action 2, the MACentity may decrement Bj by the total size of MAC SDUs served to logicalchannel j above. The value of Bj may be negative. For action 3, if anyresources remain, the logical channels may be served in a strictdecreasing priority order (regardless of the value of Bj) until eitherthe data for that logical channel or the UL grant is exhausted,whichever comes first. Logical channels configured with equal prioritymay be served equally.

In an example scheduling mechanism, a UE may receive grants fortransmission on one or more first radio resource type (e.g., licensedcell(s)) and one or more second radio resource type (e.g., LAA SCell(s))in a TTI. In an example, a UE may determine an LBT priority class forthe grant(s) of the first radio resource type (e.g., on LAA SCells),e.g., based on logical channels associated with data in a grant/TB.

In an example, the MAC entity may consider first the grants for thesecond radio resource type (e.g., on LAA SCells) and next the groupedgrants for the first radio resource type (e.g., on licensed cells) whenserving the logical channels (See e.g., FIG. 15).

In an example, for a grant on LAA SCells, the resources of the grant maybe allocated to the logical channels with Bj>0 that may be transmittedon both the first radio resource type and the second radio resource type(e.g., licensed cells and LAA SCells) in a decreasing priority order anda logical channel may be served up to its PBR. If the PBR of a logicalchannel is “infinity,” the data of the logical channel that is availablefor transmission may be served. In an example, the MAC entity maydecrement Bj of a logical channel by the total size of MAC SDUs servedto logical channel j in the first action. If resources remain in thegrant, the logical channels that may be transmitted on both the firstradio resource type and the second radio resource type (e.g., licensedcells and LAA SCells) may be served in a strict decreasing priorityorder (regardless of the value of Bj) until either the data for thatlogical channel or the grant is exhausted, whichever comes first.Logical channels configured with equal priority may be served equally.

In an example, for the grouped grants for the first radio resource type(e.g., on licensed cells), the resources on the grouped grants for thefirst radio resource type (e.g., on licensed cells) may be allocated tothe logical channels with Bj>0 that may only be transmitted on the firstradio resource type (e.g., licensed cells) in a decreasing priorityorder and a logical channel may be served up to its PBR. If the PBR of alogical channel is “infinity,” the data of the logical channel that isavailable for transmission may be served. If there is(are) logicalchannel(s) with Bj>0 that may be transmitted on both licensed cells andLAA SCells and have not received enough resources to achieve its (their)PBR, the MAC entity may allocate resources from the grouped grants onlicensed cells to such logical channel(s) up to its(their) PBR in adecreasing logical channel priority order. The MAC entity may decrementBj of a logical channel by the total size of MAC SDUs served to logicalchannel j in the fifth action. If resources remain in the grouped grantsfor the first radio resource type (e.g., on licensed cells), the logicalchannels may be served in a strict decreasing priority order (regardlessof the value of Bj) until either the data for that logical channel orthe grouped grants on licensed cells is exhausted, whichever comesfirst. Logical channels configured with equal priority may be servedequally.

An example of logical channel prioritization is depicted in FIG. 15. Inthe example of FIG. 15, it may be assumed that Bj of logical channels ispositive at the start of logical channel prioritization procedure andremain positive after the resource allocations. In the example of FIG.15, the MAC entity may serve the logical channels in following sequence:grant in LAA SCell1, grant in LAA SCell 2, and grouped grants inlicensed cells. In an example, the order of allocating grants in LAASCells may be arbitrary. In an example, the order of allocating grantsin licensed cells may be arbitrary. In an example, the radio resourcetype 1 may be a licensed cell type. In an example, the radio resourcetype 2 may be an unlicensed cell type. Other example radio resourcetypes may be provided.

In an example, the MAC entity may perform a Logical ChannelPrioritization procedure when a new transmission is performed. In anexample, the MAC entity may allocate resources to the logical channelsas follows. The MAC entity may apply the actions 1-3 below for logicalchannels that may be transmitted on both a first radio resource type anda second radio resource type (e.g., licensed cells and LAA SCells) tothe grants on LAA SCells. For the grouped grants for the first radioresource type (e.g., on licensed cells) (with capacity equal to sum ofthe capacities of grants for the first radio resource type), the MACentity may apply the actions 1-2 below for logical channels that mayonly be transmitted on the first radio resource type (e.g., licensedcells) to the grouped grants. If there is(are) logical channel(s) thatmay be transmitted on both the first radio resource type and the secondradio resource type (e.g., licensed and unlicensed cells) and has(have)not achieved its PBR, apply and action 1-2 below for such logicalchannel(s) to the grouped grants. The MAC entity may apply action 3below for logical channels to the grouped grants.

For action 1, the logical channels with Bj>0 may be allocated resourcesin a decreasing priority order. If the PBR of a logical channel is setto “infinity,” the MAC entity may allocate resources for the data thatis available for transmission on the logical channel before meeting thePBR of the lower priority logical channel(s). For action 2, the MACentity may decrement Bj by the total size of MAC SDUs served to logicalchannel j above. The value of Bj may be negative. For action 3, if anyresources remain, the logical channels may be served in a strictdecreasing priority order (regardless of the value of Bj) until eitherthe data for that logical channel or the UL grant is exhausted,whichever comes first. Logical channels configured with equal prioritymay be served equally.

In an example scheduling mechanism, a UE may receive grants fortransmission on one or more first radio resource type (e.g., licensedcell(s)) and one or more second radio resource type (e.g., LAA SCell(s))in a TTI. In an example, eNB may signal the LBT priority class for thegrant(s) on LAA SCells.

In an example, the MAC entity may group the grants on LAA SCells withthe same signaled LBT priority class. The MAC entity may follow theprocedures described in the previous examples and may first allocate theresources from the grants on LAA SCells. To allocate resources of anindividual or grouped grant with an LBT priority class, the MAC entitymay allocate resources of the individual or grouped grant to logicalchannel(s) that correspond to the LBT priority class of the individualor grouped grant. Once the data in logical channel(s) that correspond tothe LBT priority class of the individual or grouped grant is exhausted,the MAC entity may allocate the resources to logical channel(s) thatcorrespond to the higher order LBT priority class. In an example, theMAC entity may allocate resources of the individual or grouped grant tological channel(s) that correspond to the LBT priority class of theindividual or grouped grant or the logical channel channel(s) thatcorrespond to the LBT priority classes higher than the LBT priorityclass of the individual or grouped grant (e.g., with stricter LBTrequirements) of the individual or grouped grant.

In an example scheduling mechanism, a UE may receive grants fortransmission on one or more first radio resource type (e.g., licensedcell(s)) and one or more second radio resource type (e.g., LAA SCell(s))in a TTI.

In an example, the MAC entity may perform the following procedure for agrant for a first radio resource type (e.g., on LAA SCells). Theresources of the grant may be allocated to the logical channels withBj>0 that may be transmitted on both a first radio resource type and asecond radio resource type (e.g., licensed cells and LAA SCells) in adecreasing priority order and logical channel may be served up to itsPBR. If the PBR of a logical channel is “infinity,” the data of thelogical channel that is available for transmission may be served. TheMAC entity may decrement Bj of a logical channel by the total size ofMAC SDUs served to logical channel j. If resources remain, the logicalchannels that may be transmitted on both a first radio resource type anda second radio resource type (e.g., licensed cells and LAA SCells) maybe served in a strict decreasing priority order (regardless of the valueof Bj) until either the data for that logical channel or the grant isexhausted, whichever comes first. Logical channels configured with equalpriority may be served equally.

The MAC entity may calculate the amount of resources allocated to thelogical channels that may be transmitted on both the first radioresource type and the second radio resource type (e.g., licensed cellsand LAA SCells) in excess of the sum of the PBRs of such logicalchannels. This amount may be negative if one or more of logical channelsthat may be transmitted on both licensed cells and LAA SCells are notallocated resources to achieve its(their) PBR.

In an example scheduling mechanism, Bj may be a bucket parametercalculated over a plurality of subframes as described above. S1 and S2are parameters that indicate a parameter related to an amount ofresources allocated logical channels of a category in a given subframe.

The MAC entity may perform the following procedure for a grant for afirst radio resource type (e.g., on licensed cells). The resources ofthe grant may be allocated to the logical channels with Bj>0 in adecreasing priority order and a logical channel may be served up to itsPBR. If the PBR of a logical channel is “infinity,” the data of thelogical channel that is available for transmission may be served.

In an example, if there is(are) logical channel(s) with Bj>0 that may betransmitted on both a first radio resource type and a second radioresource type (e.g., licensed cells and LAA SCells) and has(have) notreceived resources to achieve its(their) PBR, the MAC entity mayallocate resources from the grant for the first radio resource type(e.g., on licensed cell) to such logical channel(s) up to its(their) PBRin a decreasing logical channel priority order. The MAC entity maydecrement Bj of a logical channel by the total size of MAC SDUs servedto logical channel j. In an example, if resources remain, the logicalchannels may be served in a strict decreasing priority order (regardlessof the value of Bj) until either the data for that logical channel orthe grant is exhausted, whichever comes first. Logical channelsconfigured with equal priority may be served equally. When allocatingresources to a logical channel that may be transmitted on both the firstradio resource type and the second radio resource type (e.g., licensedcells and LAA SCells), the MAC entity may compare the amount ofresources allocated in excess of the sum of PBRs of logical channelsthat may be only transmitted on the first radio resource type (e.g.,licensed cells) (e.g., denote it as S2) and the amount of resourcesallocated in excess of the sum of PBRs of logical channels that may betransmitted on both the first radio resource type and the second radioresource type (e.g., licensed cells and LAA SCells) (e.g., denote it asS1). The MAC entity may serve the logical channel if S1<S2 or the datain logical channel(s) that may only be transmitted on the first radioresource type (e.g., licensed cells) is exhausted.

An example of logical channel prioritization is depicted in FIG. 16. Inthe example of FIG. 16, it may be assumed that Bj of logical channels ispositive at the start of logical channel prioritization procedure andremain positive after the resource allocations. In an example, the radioresource type 1 may be a licensed cell type. In an example, the radioresource type 2 may be an unlicensed cell type. Other example radioresource types may be provided.

In an example, the MAC entity may perform a Logical ChannelPrioritization procedure when a new transmission is performed. In anexample, the MAC entity may set S1=−Σ_(j∈L)PBR_(j) andS2=−Σ_(j∈B)PBR_(j) where L is the set of logical channels that may betransmitted only on a first radio resource type (e.g., licensed cells),B is the set of logical channels that may be sent on both the firstradio resource type (e.g., licensed cells) and a second radio resourcetype (e.g., LAA SCells) and PHP, is the priortized bit rate for logicalchannel j.

In an example, the MAC entity may allocate resources to the logicalchannels as follows. The MAC entity may apply the actions 1-3 below forlogical channels that may be transmitted on both the first radioresource type and the second radio resource type (e.g., licensed cellsand LAA SCells) to the grant(s) for the second radio resource type (e.g.on LAA SCells). The MAC entity may update S1 as follows: S1=S1+totalsize of resources allocated to logical channels that may be sent on bothfirst radio resource type (e.g., licensed cells) and second radioresource type (e.g., LAA SCells).

For a grant for the first radio resource type (e.g., on licensed cells),the MAC entity may apply the actions 1-2 below for the logical channelsthat may be transmitted on both the first radio resource type and thesecond radio resource type (e.g., licensed cells and LAA SCells) to thegrant. If there is(are) logical channel(s) that may be transmitted onboth the first radio resource type and the second radio resource type(e.g., licensed and unlicensed cells) and has(have) not achieved itsPBR, apply and action 1-2 below for such logical channel(s) to thegrant. The MAC entity may update S1 or S2 as follows: S1=S1+total sizeof resources allocated to logical channels that may be transmitted onboth the first radio resource type and the second radio resource type(e.g., licensed cells and LAA SCells), and S2=S2+total size of resourcesallocated to logical channels that may only be transmitted on the firstradio resource type (e.g., licensed cells).

The MAC entity may apply action 3 below to logical channels. If data ofa logical channel may be transmitted on both the first radio resourcetype and the second radio resource type (e.g., licensed cells and LAASCells), S1>S2 and data in logical channels that may be transmitted onlyon the first radio resource type (e.g. licensed cells) is not exhausted,skip the logical channel.

For action 1, the logical channels with Bj>0 may be allocated resourcesin a decreasing priority order. If the PBR of a logical channel is setto “infinity,” the MAC entity may allocate resources for the data thatis available for transmission on the logical channel before meeting thePBR of the lower priority logical channel(s). For action 2, the MACentity may decrement Bj by the total size of MAC SDUs served to logicalchannel j above. The value of Bj may be negative. For action 3, if anyresources remain, the logical channels may be served in a strictdecreasing priority order (regardless of the value of Bj) until eitherthe data for that logical channel or the UL grant is exhausted,whichever comes first. Logical channels configured with equal prioritymay be served equally.

In an example scheduling mechanism, the UE may receive grants fortransmission on one or more licensed cell(s) and one or more LAASCell(s) in a TTI. In an example, a UE may determine the LBT priorityclass for the grant(s) on LAA SCells.

In an example, the MAC entity may perform the following procedure forthe grouped grants for the second radio resource type (e.g., on LAASCells) (with capacity equal to the sum of the capacity of grants forthe second radio resource type). The resources of the grouped grants maybe allocated to the logical channels with Bj>0 that may be transmittedon both the first radio resource type and the second radio resource type(e.g., licensed cells and LAA SCells) in a decreasing priority order anda logical channel may be served up to its PBR. If the PBR of a logicalchannel is “infinity,” the data of the logical channel that is availablefor transmission may be served. The MAC entity may decrement Bj of alogical channel by the total size of MAC SDUs served to logical channelj. In an example, if resources remain, the logical channels that may betransmitted on both the first radio resource type and the second radioresource type (e.g., licensed cells and LAA SCells) may be served in astrict decreasing priority order (regardless of the value of Bj) untileither the data for that logical channel or the grouped grants isexhausted, whichever comes first. Logical channels configured with equalpriority may be served equally.

The MAC entity may calculate the amount of resources allocated to thelogical channels that may be transmitted on both the first radioresource type and the second radio resource type (e.g., licensed cellsand LAA SCells) in excess of the sum of the PBRs of such logicalchannels. This amount may be negative if one or more of logical channelsthat may be transmitted on both the first radio resource type and thesecond radio resource type (e.g., licensed cells and LAA SCells) are notallocated resources to achieve its(their) PBR.

In an example, the MAC entity may perform the following procedure for agrant for a first radio resource type (e.g., on licensed cells). Theresources of the grant may be allocated to the logical channels withBj>0 in a decreasing priority order and a logical channel may be servedup to its PBR. If the PBR of a logical channel is “infinity,” the dataof the logical channel that is available for transmission may be served.In an example, if there is(are) logical channel(s) with Bj>0 that may betransmitted on both the first radio resource type and the second radioresource type (e.g., licensed cells and LAA SCells) and has(have) notreceived resources to achieve its(their) PBR, the MAC entity mayallocate resources from the grant for the first radio resource type(e.g., on licensed cell) to such logical channel(s) up to its(their) PBRin a decreasing logical channel priority order. The MAC entity maydecrement Bj of a logical channel by the total size of MAC SDUs servedto logical channel j. In an example, if resources remain, the logicalchannels may be served in a strict decreasing priority order (regardlessof the value of Bj) until either the data for that logical channel orthe grant is exhausted, whichever comes first. Logical channelsconfigured with equal priority may be served equally. When allocatingresources to a logical channel that may be transmitted on both the firstradio resource type 1 and the radio resource type 2 (e.g., licensedcells and LAA SCells), the MAC entity may compare the amount ofresources allocated in excess of the sum of PBRs of logical channelsthat may be only transmitted on the first radio resource type (e.g.,licensed cells) (e.g., denote it as S2) and the amount of resourcesallocated in excess of the sum of PBRs of logical channels that may betransmitted on both the first radio resource type and the second radioresource type (e.g., licensed cells and LAA SCells) (e.g., denote it asS1). The MAC entity may serve the logical channel if S1<S2 or the datain logical channel(s) that may only be transmitted on the first radioresource type (e.g., licensed cells) is exhausted.

An example of logical channel prioritization is depicted in FIG. 17. Inthe example of FIG. 17, it may be assumed that Bj of logical channels ispositive at the start of logical channel prioritization procedure andremain positive after the resource allocations. In an example, the radioresource type 1 may be a licensed cell type. In an example, the radioresource type 2 may be an unlicensed cell type. Other example radioresource types may be provided.

In an example, the MAC entity may perform a Logical ChannelPrioritization procedure when a new transmission is performed. In anexample, the MAC entity may set S1=−Σ_(j∈L)PBR_(j) andS2=−Σ_(j∈B)PBR_(j), where L is the set of logical channels that may betransmitted only on a first radio resource type (e.g., licensed cells),B is the set of logical channels that may be sent on both the firstradio resource type and a second radio resource type (e.g., licensedcells and LAA SCells0 and PBR_(j) is the prioritized bit rate forlogical channel j.

In an example, the MAC entity may allocate resources to the logicalchannels as follows. The MAC entity may apply the actions 1-3 below forlogical channels that may be transmitted on both the first radioresource type and the second radio resource type (e.g., licensed cellsand LAA SCells) to the grouped grant(s) for the second radio resourcetype (e.g., on LAA SCells) (with capacity equal to the sum of thecapacity of grants for the second radio resource type). The MAC entitymay update S1 as follows: S1=S1+total size of resources allocated tological channels that may be transmitted on both the first radioresource type and the second radio resource type (e.g., licensed cellsand LAA SCells).

For a grant for a first radio resource type (e.g., on licensed cells),the MAC entity may apply the actions 1-2 below for the logical channelsthat may be transmitted on both the first radio resource type and thesecond radio resource type (e.g., licensed cells and LAA SCells) to thegrant. In an example, if there is(are) logical channel(s) that may betransmitted on both the first radio resource type and the second radioresource type (e.g., licensed and unlicensed cells) and has(have) notachieved its PBR, apply and action 1-2 below for such logical channel(s)to the grant. The MAC entity may update S1 or S2 as follows: S1=S1+totalsize of resources allocated to logical channels that may be transmittedon both the first radio resource type and the second radio resource type(e.g., licensed cells and LAA SCells), and S2=S2+total size of resourcesallocated to logical channels that may only be transmitted on the firstradio resource type (e.g., licensed cells).

In an example, the MAC entity may apply action 3 below to logicalchannels. If a logical channel may be transmitted on both the firstradio resource type and the second radio resource type (e.g., licensedcells and LAA SCells), S1>S2 and data in logical channels that may betransmitted only on the first radio resource type (e.g., licensed cells)is not exhausted, the MAC entity may skip the logical channel.

For action 1, the logical channels with Bj>0 may be allocated resourcesin a decreasing priority order. If the PBR of a logical channel is setto “infinity,” the MAC entity may allocate resources for the data thatis available for transmission on the logical channel before meeting thePBR of the lower priority logical channel(s). For action 2, the MACentity may decrement Bj by the total size of MAC SDUs served to logicalchannel j above. The value of Bj may be negative. For action 3, if anyresources remain, the logical channels may be served in a strictdecreasing priority order (regardless of the value of Bj) until eitherthe data for that logical channel or the UL grant is exhausted,whichever comes first. Logical channels configured with equal prioritymay be served equally.

In an example scheduling mechanism, the UE may receive grants fortransmission on one or more licensed cell(s) and one or more LAASCell(s) in a TTI. In an example, a UE may determine the LBT priorityclass for the grant(s) on LAA SCells.

In an example, the MAC entity may perform the following procedure for agrant on LAA SCells. The resources of the grant may be allocated to thelogical channels with Bj>0 that may be transmitted on both a first radioresource type and a second radio resource type (e.g., licensed cells andLAA SCells) in a decreasing priority order and a logical channel may beserved up to its PBR. If the PBR of a logical channel is “infinity,” thedata of the logical channel that is available for transmission may beserved. The MAC entity may decrement Bj of a logical channel by thetotal size of MAC SDUs served to logical channel j. In an example, ifresources remain, the logical channels that may be transmitted on boththe first radio resource type and a second radio resource type (e.g.,licensed cells and LAA SCells) may be served in a strict decreasingpriority order (regardless of the value of Bj) until either the data forthat logical channel or the grant is exhausted, whichever comes first.Logical channels configured with equal priority may be served equally.The MAC entity may calculate the amount of resources allocated to thelogical channels that may be transmitted on both the first radioresource type and the second radio resource type (e.g., licensed cellsand LAA SCells) in excess of the sum of the PBRs of such logicalchannels. This amount may be negative if one or more of logical channelsthat may be transmitted on both the first radio resource type and thesecond radio resource type (e.g., licensed cells and LAA SCells) are notallocated resources to achieve its(their) PBR.

In an example, the MAC entity may perform the following procedure forthe grouped grant for a first radio resource type (e.g., on licensedcells). The resources of the grouped grants may be allocated to thelogical channels with Bj>0 in a decreasing priority order and a logicalchannel may be served up to its PBR. If the PBR of a logical channel is“infinity,” the data of the logical channel that is available fortransmission may be served. In an example, if there is(are) logicalchannel(s) with Bj>0 that may be transmitted on both the first radioresource type and the second radio resource type (e.g., licensed cellsand LAA SCells) and has(have) not received resources to achieveits(their) PBR, the MAC entity may allocate resources from the groupedgrants on licensed cell to such logical channel(s) up to its(their) PBRin a decreasing logical channel priority order. The MAC entity maydecrement Bj of a logical channel by the total size of MAC SDUs servedto logical channel j. In an example, if resources remain, the logicalchannels may be served in a strict decreasing priority order (regardlessof the value of Bj) until either the data for that logical channel orthe grant is exhausted, whichever comes first. Logical channelsconfigured with equal priority may be served equally. Before allocatingresources to a logical channel that may be transmitted on both the firstradio resource type and the second radio resource type (e.g., licensedcells and LAA SCells), the MAC entity may compare the amount ofresources allocated in excess of the sum of PBRs of logical channelsthat may be only transmitted on the first radio resource type (e.g.,licensed cells) (e.g., denote it as S2) and the amount of resourcesallocated in excess of the sum of PBRs of logical channels that may betransmitted on both the first radio resource type and the second radioresource type (e.g., licensed cells and LAA SCells) (e.g., denote it asS1). The MAC entity may serve the logical channel if S1<S2 or the datain logical channel(s) that may only be transmitted on the first radioresource type (e.g., licensed cells) is exhausted.

An example of logical channel prioritization is depicted in FIG. 18. Inthe example of FIG. 18, it may be assumed that Bj of logical channels ispositive at the start of logical channel prioritization procedure andremain positive after the resource allocations. In an example, the radioresource type 1 may be a licensed cell type. In an example, the radioresource type 2 may be an unlicensed cell type. Other example radioresource types may be provided.

In an example, the MAC entity may perform a Logical ChannelPrioritization procedure when a new transmission is performed. In anexample, the MAC entity may set S1=−Σ_(j∈L)PBR_(j) andS2=−Σ_(j∈B)PBR_(j) where L is the set of logical channels that may betransmitted only on a first radio resource type (e.g., licensed cells),B is the set of logical channels that may be sent on both the firstradio resource type and the second radio resource type (e.g. licensedcells and LAA SCells) and PBR is the priortized bit rate for logicalchannel j. In an example, the MAC entity may allocate resources to thelogical channels as follows: the MAC entity may apply the actions 1-3below for logical channels that may be transmitted on both a first radioresource type and a second radio resource type (e.g., licensed cells andLAA SCells) to the grant(s) on LAA SCells.

In an example, the MAC entity may update S1 as follows: S1=S1+total sizeof resources allocated to logical channels that may be transmitted onboth the first radio resource type and the second radio resource type(e.g., licensed cells and LAA SCells).

In an example, for the grouped grants for the first radio resource type(e.g., on licensed cells). The MAC entity may apply the actions 1-2below for the logical channels that may be transmitted on both the firstradio resource type and the second radio resource type (e.g., licensedcells and LAA SCells) to the grouped grants. If there is(are) logicalchannel(s) that may be transmitted on both the first radio resource typeand the second radio resource type (e.g., licensed and unlicensed cells)and has(have) not achieved its PBR, apply and action 1-2 below for suchlogical channel(s) to the grouped grants. In an example, the MAC entitymay update S1 or S2 as follows: S1=S1+total size of resources allocatedto logical channels that may be transmitted on both the first radioresource type and the second radio resource type (e.g., licensed cellsand LAA SCells), and S2=S2+total size of resources allocated to logicalchannels that may only be transmitted on the first radio resource type(e.g. licensed cells).

The MAC entity may apply action 3 below to logical channels. If alogical channel may be transmitted on both the first radio resource typeand the second radio resource type (e.g., licensed cells and LAASCells), S1>S2 and data in logical channels that may be transmitted onlyon the first radio resource type (e.g., licensed cells) is notexhausted, skip the logical channel.

For action 1, the logical channels with Bj>0 may be allocated resourcesin a decreasing priority order. If the PBR of a logical channel is setto “infinity,” the MAC entity may allocate resources for the data thatis available for transmission on the logical channel before meeting thePBR of the lower priority logical channel(s). For action 2, the MACentity may decrement Bj by the total size of MAC SDUs served to logicalchannel j above. The value of Bj may be negative. For action 3, if anyresources remain, the logical channels may be served in a strictdecreasing priority order (regardless of the value of Bj) until eitherthe data for that logical channel or the UL grant is exhausted,whichever comes first. Logical channels configured with equal prioritymay be served equally.

In an example scheduling mechanism, the UE may receive grants fortransmission on one or more licensed cell(s) and one or more LAASCell(s) in a TTI. In an example, a UE may determine the LBT priorityclass for the grant(s) on LAA SCells.

In an example embodiment, the MAC entity may perform the followingprocedure for the grouped grants on a second radio resource type (e.g.,LAA SCells). The resources of the grouped grants may be allocated to thelogical channels with Bj>0 that may be transmitted on both the firstradio resource type and the second radio resource type (e.g., licensedcells and LAA SCells) in a decreasing priority order and a logicalchannel may be served up to its PBR. If the PBR of a logical channel is“infinity,” the data of the logical channel that is available fortransmission may be served. The MAC entity may decrement Bj of a logicalchannel by the total size of MAC SDUs served to logical channel j. Ifresources remain, the logical channels that may be transmitted on boththe first radio resource type and the second radio resource type (e.g.,licensed cells and LAA SCells) may be served in a strict decreasingpriority order (regardless of the value of Bj) until either the data forthat logical channel or the grouped grants is exhausted, whichever comesfirst. Logical channels configured with equal priority may be servedequally. The MAC entity may calculate the amount of resources allocatedto the logical channels that may be transmitted on both the first radioresource type and the second radio resource type (e.g., licensed cellsand LAA SCells) in excess of the sum of the PBRs of such logicalchannels. This amount may be negative if one or more of logical channelsthat may be transmitted on both the first radio resource type and thesecond radio resource type (e.g., licensed cells and LAA SCells) are notallocated resources to achieve its(their) PBR.

In an example, the MAC entity may perform the following procedure forthe grouped grant for a first radio resource type (e.g., licensedcells). The resources of the grouped grants may be allocated to thelogical channels with Bj>0 in a decreasing priority order and a logicalchannel may be served up to its PBR. If the PBR of a logical channel is“infinity,” of the data of the logical channel that is available fortransmission may be served. If there is(are) logical channel(s) withBj>0 that may be transmitted on both the first radio resource type andthe second radio resource type (e.g., licensed cells and LAA SCells) andhas(have) not received resources to achieve its(their) PBR, the MACentity may allocate resources from the grouped grants for the firstradio resource type (e.g., on licensed cell) to such logical channel(s)up to its(their) PBR in a decreasing logical channel priority order. TheMAC entity may decrement Bj of a logical channel by the total size ofMAC SDUs served to logical channel j. If resources remain, the logicalchannels may be served in a strict decreasing priority order (regardlessof the value of Bj) until either the data for that logical channel orthe grant is exhausted, whichever comes first. Logical channelsconfigured with equal priority may be served equally. Before allocatingresources to a logical channel that may be transmitted on both the firstradio resource type and the second radio resource type (e.g., licensedcells and LAA SCells), the MAC entity may compare the amount ofresources allocated in excess of the sum of PBRs of logical channelsthat may be only transmitted on the first radio resource type (e.g.,licensed cells) (e.g., denote it as S2) and the amount of resourcesallocated in excess of the sum of PBRs of logical channels that may betransmitted on both the first radio resource type and the second radioresource type (e.g., licensed cells and LAA SCells) (e.g., denote it asS1). The MAC entity may serve the logical channel if S1<S2 or the datain logical channel(s) that may only be transmitted on the first radioresource type (e.g., licensed cells) is exhausted.

An example of logical channel prioritization is depicted in FIG. 19. Inthe example of FIG. 19, it may be assumed that Bj of logical channels ispositive at the start of logical channel prioritization procedure andremain positive after the resource allocations. In an example, the radioresource type 1 may be a licensed cell type. In an example, the radioresource type 2 may be an unlicensed cell type. Other example radioresource types may be provided.

In an example, the MAC entity may perform a Logical ChannelPrioritization procedure when a new transmission is performed.

In an example, the MAC entity may set S1=−Σ_(j∈L)PBR_(j) andS2=Σ_(j∈B)PBR_(j) where L is the set of logical channels that may betransmitted only on the first radio resource type (e.g., licensedcells), B is the set of logical channels that may be sent on both thefirst radio resource type and the second radio resource type (e.g.,licensed cells and LAA SCells) and FBR is the prioritized bit rate forlogical channel j. The MAC entity may allocate resources to the logicalchannels as follows. The MAC entity may apply the actions 1-3 below forlogical channels that may be transmitted on both the first radioresource type and the second radio resource type (e.g., licensed cellsand LAA SCells) to the grouped grant(s) for the second radio resourcetype (e.g., on LAA SCells). In an example, the MAC entity may update S1as follows: S1=S1+total size of resources allocated to logical channelsthat may be transmitted on both the first radio resource type and thesecond radio resource type (e.g., licensed cells and LAA SCells).

In an example, for the grouped grants on the first radio resource type(e.g., licensed cells), the MAC entity may apply the actions 1-2 belowfor the logical channels that may be transmitted on both the first radioresource type and the second radio resource type (e.g., licensed cellsand LAA SCells) to the grouped grants. If there is(are) logicalchannel(s) that may be transmitted on both the first radio resource typeand the second radio resource type (e.g., licensed and unlicensed cells)and has(have) not achieved its PBR, apply and action 1-2 below for suchlogical channel(s) to the grouped grants. The MAC entity may update S1or S2 as follows: S1=S1+total size of resources allocated to logicalchannels that may be transmitted on both the first radio resource typeand the second radio resource type (e.g., licensed cells and LAASCells), and S2=S2+total size of resources allocated to logical channelsthat may only be transmitted on the first radio resource type (e.g.,licensed cells).

The MAC entity may apply action 3 below to logical channels. If data ofa logical channel may be transmitted on both the first radio resourcetype and the second radio resource type (e.g., licensed cells and LAASCells), S1>S2 and data in logical channels that may be transmitted onlyon the first radio resource type (e.g., licensed cells) is notexhausted, the MAC entity may skip the logical channel.

For action 1, the logical channels with Bj>0 may be allocated resourcesin a decreasing priority order. If the PBR of a logical channel is setto “infinity,” the MAC entity may allocate resources for the data thatis available for transmission on the logical channel before meeting thePBR of the lower priority logical channel(s). For action 2, the MACentity may decrement Bj by the total size of MAC SDUs served to logicalchannel j above. The value of Bj may be negative. For action 3, if anyresources remain, the logical channels may be served in a strictdecreasing priority order (regardless of the value of Bj) until eitherthe data for that logical channel or the UL grant is exhausted,whichever comes first. Logical channels configured with equal prioritymay be served equally.

In an example scheduling mechanism, a UE may receive grants fortransmission on one or more licensed cell(s) and one or more LAASCell(s) in a TTI. In an example, eNB may signal the LBT priority classfor the grant(s) on LAA SCells.

In an example, the MAC entity may group the grants on LAA SCells withthe same signaled LBT priority class. The MAC entity may follow theprocedures described in the previous examples and may first allocate theresources from the grants on LAA SCells and allocate resources of grantsin licensed cells considering the amount of resources allocated inexcess of the sum of PBRs of logical channels that may be transmitted onboth licensed cells and LAA SCells. To allocate resources of anindividual or grouped grant with an LBT priority class, the MAC entitymay allocate resources of the individual or grouped grant to logicalchannel(s) that correspond to the LBT priority class of the individualor grouped grant. Once the data in logical channel(s) that correspond tothe LBT priority class of the individual or grouped grant is exhausted,the MAC entity may allocate the resources to logical channel(s) thatcorrespond to the higher order LBT priority class. In an example, theMAC entity may allocate resources of the individual or grouped grant tological channel(s) that correspond to the LBT priority class of theindividual or grouped grant or the logical channel channel(s) thatcorrespond to the LBT priority classes higher than the LBT priorityclass of the individual or grouped grant (e.g., with stricter LBTrequirements) of the individual or grouped grant.

In an example, a UE may be scheduled with a multi-subframe grant. TheeNB may signal the LBT priority class and/or the UE may determine theLBT priority class based on the logical channels multiplexed in theburst after the logical channel prioritization procedure is completedand/or other criteria.

In an example embodiment, a UE may transmit logical channel(s)corresponding to a single LBT priority class (e.g., the LBT priorityclass signaled by eNB) in multiple subframes of a burst on a LAA SCelluntil the buffers of the logical channel(s) is(are) empty. UE maycontinue transmission of logical channel(s) corresponding to higher LBTpriority class(es) (e.g., a single LBT priority class at a time untilthe buffer(s) of logical channel(s) corresponding to the LBT priorityclass is(are) empty). In an example, a UE may transmit logicalchannel(s) corresponding to the LBT priority class signaled by the eNBand the logical channel(s) corresponding to higher LBT priority classes(e.g., with stricter LBT requirements) in the subframes of a burst on aLAA SCell. until the buffers of the logical channel(s) is(are) empty.

In an example implementation, a UE may consider a subset of logicalchannels corresponding to the LBT priority class with positive Bj toconstruct the MAC PDUs. In an implementation, a UE may consider alogical channel corresponding to the LBT priority class even if thevalue of Bj is not positive.

In an example embodiment, if the sum of the capacity of grants onlicensed cells is less than the sum of PBRs of logical channels withBj>0 that may only be sent on licensed cells, a UE may be allowed toassign data from a logical channel that is configured to be onlytransmitted on the licensed cells to a MAC PDU on a LAA SCell.

In an example, if the sum of the capacity of grants on licensed cells isless than the sum of PBRs of logical channels with Bj>0 that may only besent on licensed cells, a UE may be allowed to assign data from alogical channel that is configured to be only transmitted on thelicensed cells to a MAC PDU on a LAA SCell if the sum of the capacity ofgrants on LAA SCells is larger than sum of PBRs of logical channels withBj>0 that may be sent on both LAA SCells and licensed cells.

In an example embodiment, if the sum of the capacities of grants onlicensed cells is less than sum of PBRs of logical channels with Bj>0that may only be sent on licensed cells, a UE may be allowed to assigndata from a logical channel that is configured to be only transmitted onthe licensed cells to a MAC PDU on a LAA SCell if the logical channel(s)that may be transmitted on the LAA SCell (e.g., determined based on theLBT priority class and/or their value of Bj) are allocated at least asmuch as its(their) associated PBR.

In an example implementation, if the sum of the capacities of grants onthe LAA SCell(s) is more than sum of buffered traffic in logicalchannels with Bj>0 that may be transmitted on both licensed cells andLAA SCells and/or if the difference is larger than a threshold, a may beallowed to assign data from a logical channel that is configured to beonly transmitted on the licensed cells to a MAC PDU on a LAA SCell.

In an example, if the capacity of a grant on a LAA SCell is more thansum of buffered traffic in logical channels that may be transmitted onthe LAA SCell (e.g., determined based on the LBT priority class and/ortheir value of Bj) and licensed cells and/or if the difference is largerthan a threshold, a UE may be allowed to assign data from a logicalchannel that is configured to be only transmitted on the licensed cellsto the MAC PDU on the LAA SCell.

In an example embodiment, if the value of Bj for logical channels thatmay be transmitted on both licensed and unlicensed cells is negativeand/or if sum of the Bj values for logical channels that may betransmitted on both licensed and unlicensed cells is negative and/or ifsum of the Bj values for logical channels that may be transmitted onboth licensed and unlicensed cells is less than a configurablethreshold, a UE may be allowed to assign data from a logical channelthat is configured to be only transmitted on the licensed cells to a MACPDU on a LAA SCell.

In an implementation, an eNB may indicate to a UE whether the UE isallowed to include data from logical channels configured fortransmission on the licensed cells in the MAC PDU on a LAA SCell ifcertain conditions are met. The indication may be through RRCconfiguration and/or dynamic signaling.

In example embodiments, the UE may combine one or more data segments ofthe same logical channel (scheduled on the same group of cells) when theUE constructs MAC PDUs, and transmit the MAC PDU on a grant of a cell.

According to various embodiments, a device such as, for example, awireless device, off-network wireless device, a base station, and/or thelike, may comprise one or more processors and memory. The memory maystore instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors,cause the device to perform a series of actions. Embodiments of exampleactions are illustrated in the accompanying figures and specification.Features from various embodiments may be combined to create yet furtherembodiments.

FIG. 20 is an example flow diagram as per an aspect of an embodiment ofthe present disclosure. A wireless device may receive one or moremessages at 2010. The Message(s) may comprise configuration parametersfor a logical channel in a plurality of logical channels. Theconfiguration parameters may indicate a mapping restriction of thelogical channel to one or more radio resource types in a plurality ofradio resource types. According to an embodiment, the mappingrestriction may be based, at least in part, on one or more quality ofservice (QoS) requirements of the logical channel. According to anembodiment, a QoS requirement may be based on a latency requirement ofthe logical channel.

At 2020, the wireless device may receive a plurality of uplink grants.An uplink grant in the plurality of uplink grants may indicate radioresources for a radio resource type in the plurality of radio resourcetypes. According to an embodiment, the radio resource type may indicatea cell type. According to an embodiment, the cell type may comprise alicensed cell type. According to an embodiment, the cell type maycomprise an unlicensed cell type.

At 2030, the plurality of uplink grants may be grouped into a pluralityof grouped grants based on the plurality of radio resource types. Afirst grouped grant in the plurality of grouped grants may comprise afirst plurality of uplink grants each indicating a same first radioresource type. According to an embodiment, a capacity of the firstgrouped grant may be equal to a sum of capacities of the first pluralityof uplink grants.

At 2040, radio resources may be allocated, indicated by the firstgrouped grant, to one or more first logical channels mapped to the firstradio resource type. According to an embodiment, the one or more firstlogical channels may comprise the logical channel. According to anembodiment, the allocating radio resources may comprise employing alogical channel prioritization (LCP) procedure. According to anembodiment, the logical channel may be configured with a priority and aprioritized bit rate (PBR). According to an embodiment, the LCPprocedure may employ the priority and the PBR of each of the one or morefirst logical channels.

At 2050, a plurality of transport blocks corresponding to the firstplurality of uplink grants may be generated. At 2060, the wirelessdevice may transmit the plurality of transport blocks.

FIG. 21 is an example flow diagram as per an aspect of an embodiment ofthe present disclosure. At 2110, a wireless device may receive one ormore radio resource control (RRC) messages. The RRC message(s) maycomprise configuration parameters for a plurality of cells comprising aplurality of licensed assisted access (LAA) cells.

At 2120, the wireless device may receive a plurality of uplink grantsfor the plurality of LAA cells. An uplink grant in the plurality ofuplink grants may indicate a channel access priority class. At 2130, aplurality of uplink grants may be grouped into a plurality of groupedgrants. A first grouped grant in the plurality of grouped grants maycomprise a first plurality of uplink grants each indicating a same firstchannel access priority class. According to an embodiment, a capacity ofthe first grouped grant may be equal to a sum of capacities of the firstplurality of uplink grants. According to an embodiment, the plurality ofuplink grants may comprise one or more single-subframe uplink grants andone or more multi-subframe uplink grants.

At 2140, radio resources may be allocated, indicated by the firstgrouped grant, to one or more first logical channels. According to anembodiment, the configuration parameters may indicate that data of theone or more first logical channels may be allowed to be transmitted viauplink of an LAA cell in the plurality of LAA cells. According to anembodiment, one or more quality of service (QoS) requirements of the oneor more first logical channels may be satisfied if data of the one ormore first logical channels is transmitted via uplink of an LAA cell inthe plurality of LAA cells. According to an embodiment, the allocatingradio resources may comprise employing a logical channel prioritization(LCP) procedure.

According to an embodiment, the one or more RRC messages may furthercomprise a logical channel priority. According to an embodiment, the oneor more RRC messages may further comprise a logical channel prioritizedbit rate (PBR). According to an embodiment, the one or more RRC messagesmay further comprise a logical channel bucket size duration (BSD).According to an embodiment, the LCP procedure may employ the logicalchannel priority. According to an embodiment, the LCP procedure mayemploy the logical channel PBR. According to an embodiment, the LCPprocedure may employ the logical channel BSD of each of the one or morefirst logical channels.

At 2150, a plurality of transport blocks corresponding to the firstplurality of grants may be generated. At 2160, the wireless device maytransmit the plurality of transport blocks. According to an embodiment,a listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure may be performed before thetransmitting the plurality of transport blocks. According to anembodiment, the LBT procedure may be based, at least in part, on thesame first channel access priority class.

In this specification, “a” and “an” and similar phrases are to beinterpreted as “at least one” and “one or more.” In this specification,the term “may” is to be interpreted as “may, for example.” In otherwords, the term “may” is indicative that the phrase following the term“may” is an example of one of a multitude of suitable possibilities thatmay, or may not, be employed to one or more of the various embodiments.If A and B are sets and every element of A is also an element of B, A iscalled a subset of B. In this specification, only non-empty sets andsubsets are considered. For example, possible subsets of B={cell1,cell2} are: {cell1}, {cell2}, and {cell1, cell2}.

In this specification, parameters (Information elements: IEs) maycomprise one or more objects, and each of those objects may comprise oneor more other objects. For example, if parameter (IE) N comprisesparameter (IE) M, and parameter (IE) M comprises parameter (IE) K, andparameter (IE) K comprises parameter (information element) J, then, forexample, N comprises K, and N comprises J. In an example embodiment,when one or more messages comprise a plurality of parameters, it impliesthat a parameter in the plurality of parameters is in at least one ofthe one or more messages, but does not have to be in each of the one ormore messages.

Many of the elements described in the disclosed embodiments may beimplemented as modules. A module is defined here as an isolatableelement that performs a defined function and has a defined interface toother elements. The modules described in this disclosure may beimplemented in hardware, software in combination with hardware,firmware, wetware (i.e hardware with a biological element) or acombination thereof, all of which are behaviorally equivalent. Forexample, modules may be implemented as a software routine written in acomputer language configured to be executed by a hardware machine (suchas C, C++, Fortran, Java, Basic, Matlab or the like) or amodeling/simulation program such as Simulink, Stateflow, GNU Octave, orLabVIEWMathScript. Additionally, it may be possible to implement modulesusing physical hardware that incorporates discrete or programmableanalog, digital and/or quantum hardware. Examples of programmablehardware comprise: computers, microcontrollers, microprocessors,application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs); field programmablegate arrays (FPGAs); and complex programmable logic devices (CPLDs).Computers, microcontrollers and microprocessors are programmed usinglanguages such as assembly, C, C++ or the like. FPGAs, ASICs and CPLDsare often programmed using hardware description languages (HDL) such asVHSIC hardware description language (VHDL) or Verilog that configureconnections between internal hardware modules with lesser functionalityon a programmable device. Finally, it needs to be emphasized that theabove-mentioned technologies are often used in combination to achievethe result of a functional module.

The disclosure of this patent document incorporates material which issubject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection tothe facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or thepatent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Officepatent file or records, for the limited purposes required by law, butotherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.

While various embodiments have been described above, it should beunderstood that they have been presented by way of example, and notlimitation. It will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevantart(s) that various changes in form and detail can be made thereinwithout departing from the spirit and scope. In fact, after reading theabove description, it will be apparent to one skilled in the relevantart(s) how to implement alternative embodiments. Thus, the presentembodiments should not be limited by any of the above describedexemplary embodiments. In particular, it should be noted that, forexample purposes, the above explanation has focused on the example(s)using FDD communication systems. However, one skilled in the art willrecognize that embodiments of the disclosure may also be implemented ina system comprising one or more TDD cells (e.g. frame structure 2 and/orframe structure 3-licensed assisted access). The disclosed methods andsystems may be implemented in wireless or wireline systems. The featuresof various embodiments presented in this disclosure may be combined. Oneor many features (method or system) of one embodiment may be implementedin other embodiments. Only a limited number of example combinations areshown to indicate to one skilled in the art the possibility of featuresthat may be combined in various embodiments to create enhancedtransmission and reception systems and methods.

In addition, it should be understood that any figures which highlightthe functionality and advantages, are presented for example purposesonly. The disclosed architecture is sufficiently flexible andconfigurable, such that it may be utilized in ways other than thatshown. For example, the actions listed in any flowchart may bere-ordered or only optionally used in some embodiments.

Further, the purpose of the Abstract of the Disclosure is to enable theU.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally, andespecially the scientists, engineers and practitioners in the art whoare not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determinequickly from a cursory inspection the nature and essence of thetechnical disclosure of the application. The Abstract of the Disclosureis not intended to be limiting as to the scope in any way.

Finally, it is the applicant's intent that only claims that include theexpress language “means for” or “step for” be interpreted under 35U.S.C. 112. Claims that do not expressly include the phrase “means for”or “step for” are not to be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: receiving, by a wirelessdevice, configuration parameters indicating: a first mapping restrictionindicating that a first logical channel is mapped to an unlicensedresource type and a licensed resource type; and a first prioritized bitrate (PBR) of the first logical channel; a second mapping restrictionindicating that a second logical channel is mapped to the licensedresource type; and a second PBR of the second logical channel;receiving: first uplink grants of the unlicensed resource type; andsecond uplink grants of the licensed resource type; allocating firstunlicensed resources within the first uplink grants to the first logicalchannel; allocating second licensed resources within the second uplinkgrants to the first logical channel based on a difference between theallocated first unlicensed resources and the first PBR of the firstlogical channel; allocating third licensed resources within the seconduplink grants to the second logical channel based on the second PBR ofthe second logical channel; allocating fourth licensed resources withinthe second uplink grants to the second logical channel, wherein thethird licensed resources are prioritized with respect to the secondlicensed resources, and the second licensed resources are prioritizedwith respect to the fourth licensed resources; and transmittingtransport blocks corresponding to the first uplink grants and the seconduplink grants.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first mappingrestriction is based, at least in part, on one or more quality ofservice (QoS) requirements of the first logical channel.
 3. The methodof claim 2, wherein a QoS requirement is based on a latency requirementof the first logical channel.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein acapacity of the first uplink grants is equal to a sum of capacities ofthe first uplink grants.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein theallocating first unlicensed resources and the allocating second licensedresources comprises employing a logical channel prioritization (LCP)procedure.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first logical channelis configured with a priority.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein thefirst logical channel is included in a plurality of logical channels,and the LCP procedure employs the priority and the PBR of each of theplurality of logical channels.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein whenthe difference between the allocated first unlicensed resources and thefirst PBR of the first logical channel is zero, the allocating of thesecond licensed resources consists of allocating no resources within thesecond uplink grants.
 9. A wireless device comprising: one or moreprocessors; and non-transitory memory storing instructions that, whenexecuted by the one or more processors, cause the wireless device to:receive configuration parameters indicating: a first mapping restrictionindicating that a first logical channel is mapped to an unlicensedresource type and a licensed resource type; and a first prioritized bitrate (PBR) of the first logical channel; a second mapping restrictionindicating that a second logical channel is mapped to the licensedresource type; and a second PBR of the second logical channel; receive:first uplink grants of the unlicensed resource type; and second uplinkgrants of the licensed resource type; allocate first unlicensedresources within the first uplink grants to the first logical channel;allocate second licensed resources within the second uplink grants tothe first logical channel based on a difference between the allocatedfirst unlicensed resources and the first PBR of the first logicalchannel; allocate third licensed resources within the second uplinkgrants to the second logical channel based on the second PBR of thesecond logical channel; allocate fourth licensed resources within thesecond uplink grants to the second logical channel, wherein the thirdlicensed resources are prioritized with respect to the second licensedresources, and the second licensed resources are prioritized withrespect to the fourth licensed resources; and transmit transport blockscorresponding to the first uplink grants and the second uplink grants.10. The wireless device of claim 9, wherein the first mappingrestriction is based, at least in part, on one or more quality ofservice (QoS) requirements of the first logical channel.
 11. Thewireless device of claim 10, wherein a QoS requirement is based on alatency requirement of the first logical channel.
 12. The wirelessdevice of claim 9, wherein a capacity of the first uplink grants isequal to a sum of capacities of the first uplink grants.
 13. Thewireless device of claim 9, wherein the allocating first unlicensedresources and the allocating second licensed resources comprisesemploying a logical channel prioritization (LCP) procedure.
 14. Thewireless device of claim 13, wherein the first logical channel isconfigured with a priority.
 15. The wireless device of claim 14, whereinthe first logical channel is included in a plurality of logicalchannels, and the LCP procedure employs the priority and the PBR of eachof the plurality of logical channels.
 16. A system comprising: a basestation comprising: one or more processors; and non-transitory memorystoring instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors,cause the base station to: transmit configuration parameters indicating:a first mapping restriction indicating that a first logical channel ismapped to an unlicensed resource type and a licensed resource type; anda first prioritized bit rate (PBR) of the first logical channel; asecond mapping restriction indicating that a second logical channel ismapped to the licensed resource type; and a second PBR of the secondlogical channel; transmit: first uplink grants of the unlicensedresource type; and second uplink grants of the licensed resource type;and a wireless device comprising: one or more processors; andnon-transitory memory storing instructions that, when executed by theone or more processors, cause the wireless device to: receive theconfiguration parameters; receive the first uplink grants and seconduplink grants; allocate first unlicensed resources within the firstuplink grants to the first logical channel; allocate second licensedresources within the second uplink grants to the first logical channelbased on a difference between the allocated first unlicensed resourcesand the first PBR of the first logical channel; allocate third licensedresources within the second uplink grants to the second logical channelbased on the second PBR of the second logical channel; allocate fourthlicensed resources within the second uplink grants to the second logicalchannel, wherein the third licensed resources are prioritized withrespect to the second licensed resources, and the second licensedresources are prioritized with respect to the fourth licensed resources;and transmit transport blocks corresponding to the first uplink grantsand the second uplink grants.